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emtees's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I picked up this book because I was curious about the woman who inspired Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. It was a good choice for that reason, because Sebastian, the protagonist, is very much like Orlando (minus the immortality and gender swapping): he’s a young Duke, heir to an ancient English estate which he loves and is devoted to, but conflicted and romantic and just a little bit dumb. If Orlando represented Vita’s own life as a wealthy, landed young person at a time when that society was on the verge of its end, Sebastian represents something very similar, but more cynical and angry and without the advantage of being an artist to give him depth.
Sebastian’s conflict is pretty simple: he loves his estate, Chevron, loves its people and his role as their leader and benefactor, views the whole thing through a very romantic lens on ancient feudalism, but he is too perceptive not to see that this society in the early twentieth century is built on something shallow and meaningless. He is bored and irritated by the empty conversation, endless consumption, and strict adherence to social rules that dominates the lives of his peers, but he can’t break away from it, not wanting to give up Chevron in the process. In this he is different from his sister, Viola, a quiet and serious Socialist, who, not standing to inherit the estate, is much more able to imagine leaving it behind for a different life. At a point when both Sebastian and Viola are at an age of discovery, they meet Leonard Aquetil, a polar explorer and observer of society, and he becomes a touchstone for both of them.
Sebastian’s story mostly focuses on his love affairs, which become symbolic for him of a struggle to find something meaningful. His first relationship is with Sylvia Roehampton, a beautiful and high ranking woman and a peer of his mother’s. When Sylvia ends their relationship after her husband discovers it, unwilling to risk a scandal for love, Sebastian turns to Teresa Spedding, a middle-class doctor’s wife, hoping to find something more real in her simple views and solid values. But for all his professed romanticism of the lower classes, Sebastian’s attitude towards them has always been condescending and infantilizing, and Teresa too is a disappointment when she turns out to value things he has never even considered.
As a character study, The Edwardians is very good. Sebastian isn’t particularly likable but he is fleshed out and interesting. I found Viola even more interesting, though, and was disappointed that so much of her story took place off-page. As the title suggests, this book is also the a study of a period, and Sebastian, Viola and the rest represent a whole culture undergoing a massive shift and not always handling it very well. The book walks the line of romanticizing the past while also acknowledging the failures of that romantic view. While there are a few places where the portrayal of middle class and poor people might be uncomfortable to a modern reader, for the most part Vita Sackville-West takes a very clear-eyed view of all levels of society.
Sebastian’s conflict is pretty simple: he loves his estate, Chevron, loves its people and his role as their leader and benefactor, views the whole thing through a very romantic lens on ancient feudalism, but he is too perceptive not to see that this society in the early twentieth century is built on something shallow and meaningless. He is bored and irritated by the empty conversation, endless consumption, and strict adherence to social rules that dominates the lives of his peers, but he can’t break away from it, not wanting to give up Chevron in the process. In this he is different from his sister, Viola, a quiet and serious Socialist, who, not standing to inherit the estate, is much more able to imagine leaving it behind for a different life. At a point when both Sebastian and Viola are at an age of discovery, they meet Leonard Aquetil, a polar explorer and observer of society, and he becomes a touchstone for both of them.
Sebastian’s story mostly focuses on his love affairs, which become symbolic for him of a struggle to find something meaningful. His first relationship is with Sylvia Roehampton, a beautiful and high ranking woman and a peer of his mother’s. When Sylvia ends their relationship after her husband discovers it, unwilling to risk a scandal for love, Sebastian turns to Teresa Spedding, a middle-class doctor’s wife, hoping to find something more real in her simple views and solid values. But for all his professed romanticism of the lower classes, Sebastian’s attitude towards them has always been condescending and infantilizing, and Teresa too is a disappointment when she turns out to value things he has never even considered.
As a character study, The Edwardians is very good. Sebastian isn’t particularly likable but he is fleshed out and interesting. I found Viola even more interesting, though, and was disappointed that so much of her story took place off-page. As the title suggests, this book is also the a study of a period, and Sebastian, Viola and the rest represent a whole culture undergoing a massive shift and not always handling it very well. The book walks the line of romanticizing the past while also acknowledging the failures of that romantic view. While there are a few places where the portrayal of middle class and poor people might be uncomfortable to a modern reader, for the most part Vita Sackville-West takes a very clear-eyed view of all levels of society.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism
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