Vita Sackville-West reads from her poem The Land

[MirrPL]

I can't believe I'm hearing the actual voice of Vita Sackville-West! This is fantastic!

Thank you very much for uploading this, merrihew.

Cheers from Sweden ;)

[PaulHaigh072]

I find it difficult to believe that people talk of the mediocrity of her verse. She was an accomplished poet, although epic and therefore probably too long winded to be popular. Her garden and gardening journalism are high points to which all should aspire. And, lest we forget, she left one of the greatest memoires of all time. Fascinating to hear that kind of voice again, clipped in places we'd now expand, and those wonderful long O's. Like hearing great granny again.

[vita1950]

I am greatly indebted to this amazing gesture. Words fail.

With undying gratitude....

[choirfreak26]

It's amazing hearing her voice, and hearing her read her own work.

[68generation]

Great piece of literary history, I had never heard Vita's voice, thanks!

[68generation]

Grande pezzo di storia letteraria, veramente incredibile, grazie!

[kimjociable]

is it just me or does her british accent sound a bit different than the standard british accent spoken today? or is it just her voice that makes her sound more nasal?

[fleurt1]

I have just finished reading A Portrait of A Marriage, the most passionate, extraordinary book ever and so it is such a joy to hear her voice, and what a rare recording! Thank you so much for postying this.

[diannebbbbb]

Oh - to only see her too

[Surfumay]

Happy Birthday Vita!!!

[zoey8072]

If she did speak spanish, I want to hear it. Her lover was Violet? Roses are red...

[brucewayne909]

@zoey8072 she was very fluent in french ( her mother ( also named victoria sackville -west was raised in france ) ...I'm currently reading Vita by Victoria Glendinning & there is no reference to her ever learning spanish

[etresanchez]

I love her, very much, even without never meet her.

[EssBeeEee]

THANK YOU! <3

[PEVENSEY01]

There's also a 1954 talk by Vita on Orlando, and reading from it. It's available on a BBC CD, along with a short extract from the longer talk given by Virginia Woolf along with lots of other writers.

[jamesjeffreypaul]

I hope you've made digital copies of your entire record collection--I shudder to think what would happen if it got lost.

[merrihew]

Well let's see. About 20,000 records and maybe 35,000 sides each lasting about 4 min. With setup time, adjusting, etc, I might be able to do one side in 10 minutes. 35,000 sides x 10 min. =350,000 min. = about 58,000 hours. The average work year is 2000 hrs. So it would take me 29 years!!! 78's are VERY durable - more so than LP's and CD's.

[floslunae]

truth is, her life was her most intrigueing legacy, much more than her novels or poetry; having said that, she and harold had a crucial impact on how modern england understands gardening :))

her alledged affair w vw becomes kinda secondary if not for her inspiring orlando...

[curseofreverence32]

Damn..... Her voice sounds just as I imagined it...

[wisecrackercymru]

dreadful woman.

[wawawoolf]

somehow i imagined her voice softer. she sounds much like virginia herself. this was interesting for me and i thank you for sharing. i wish there were recordings this long of virginia woolf reading or speaking! in any case. now i know more about vita.

[tristambeow]

saw a reference to this clip in the Times Literary Supplement, july 08, no. 5494. beats reactions to two girls one cup any day.

[merrihew]

I can die happy, I made the London Times!

[walnutgodwin]

I had always imagined that her voice was deep and rawther masculine. I wonder if the Museum of Broadcasting would have any of her broadcasts. Will check into this and let you know.

[pterzian]

Her sexual 'orientation,' about which she would have abhorred public discussion (or disclosure), has given her a posthumous notoriety that her mediocre novels and poetry would not otherwise earned.

[aeneid5ph]

I think thats a little harsh. But it is true that without her relationship with woolf there wouldn't be the same fascination with her as there is now.

[ALePuNx88]

grazie ! E' una vera emozione sentire la voce di questa donna che ha accompagnato la mia adolescenza

Giuli

[potpalm]

Would love to put this recording on my IPOD. Can you help?

[merrihew]

You can (with an adapter - from RadioShack) connect from the speaker output of your computer to the aux. input of a stereo receiver. Then from the stereo line out (or tape out) into whatever. There may be a more sophisticated way but others will have to tell you.

[musicmike47]

I was directed to this recording by a friend who is a Vita devotee. She has much of her published works but this was the first time we had heard her voice. It restores my faith in the spoken word, which is too often mangled these days. Thank you.

[voila79595]

Fantastic! What a treasure. Such a queenly voice. Twas to be expicted. O! The Liand, the Liand, the Liand!

Thank you. Seriously, this is very rare and much, much appreciated.

[theinkbrain]

love your gentle teasing sense of humour. vita, i think, for all her seeming more english than the english, ran temperamentally truer to her spanish blood. i wish her letters to violet had been saved...

[sexbrain]

Magnificent. Thank you for posting.

[4caeruleus]

The Introduction written by Nigel Nicolson (son of Sackville-West) to a 1989 republication of these poems by publishers Webb & Bower makes the claim that The Garden was composed during the period 1939-1945. If this recording really was made in 1931, it proves otherwise.

[4caeruleus]

Oops! Sorry for spreading confusion. Both excerpts read here are from The Land, the second one from the section titled "Spring". The Land has a 1927 copyright. The companion poem The Garden (copyright 1946) also has a section titled "Spring": I had the two "Spring" sections confused.

[4caeruleus]

What some hear as a dreary catalog of plant life is an evocative, subtly composed recitation of garden vignettes which gardeners of a certain type will deeply appreciate. Take up gardening for a few decades and then come back and listen again: there's more here than a list of plants.

Sackville-West was famous for her garden? Her Sissinghurst (developed in partnership with her husband Harold) is widely regarded as one of the greatest horticultural achievements of the twentieth century.

[brychar66]

Fascinating despite the really rather awful clipped and strangulated interwar upper class accent. But of course she was very upper class and it was the 1930s! The poetry (especially the second side)was a somewhat dreary catalogue of plantlife - but then again she was (and still is) famous for her garden. Any more historic poetry readings would be most welcome. Thank you for this.

[transformingArt]

Wonderful Recording! By the way...do you have many of this kind of 'Audio Book' recordings on 78s?

[merrihew]

Yes, I have a few.