Challenge (R)

This novel is introduced by Nigel Nicolson, Vita Sackville-West's son. 'It is a love story, written in the presence of the beloved, inspired by her, corrected by her with words and whole sentences written into the manuscript. Eve is a portrait of Violet (Trefusis) as exact as Vita could make it, having her model always at her side...There is no triviality nor squalor in the love of Eve and Julian, as there was none in the love of Vita and Violet. A fierce flame rose between them, as likely to consume both of them as other people who got in the way.' The story is not particularly arresting - it's about a Byronesque hero trying to save some Greek islands - but if you read it as a contemporary record of the love affair between Vita and Violet it comes to life (especially in the Eve and Aphros chapters). Quotes from this book have become assimilated into the biographical language about Violet and Vita. My favourite quote is this from Violet as Eve (it's absolutely what she felt): 'I loathe my life of petty adventures; I undertake them only in order to forget the ideal which until now has been denied me. I have crushed down the vision of life with you, but always it has remained at the back of my mind, so wide, so open, a life so free and so full of music and beauty, Julian. I would work - for you. I would create - for you. I don't want to marry you, Julian. I value my freedom above all things. Bondage is not for you or me. But I'll come with you anywhere - to Aphros if you like.' The quote is usually published without the reference to the Aphros islands and without the post script which runs thus; 'Privately she thought, - If you knew how little I cared for the islands !' Vita and Violet thought this was a great novel because it was about them, it would put into the public domain their love for each other and they would run away together, write more best-sellers and be independent and free of the conditional trust funds that were controlled by their mothers. The original title was 'Rebellion' and it would have been published around 1920. In the end Vita was persuaded not to publish as the threat of public scandal and the women's families 'crushed down' the love affair. The book was only published in the UK in 1974. If you read it like it was 1920 and as if you had the heard the rumours of the time about Vita and Violet, you might enjoy it as much as I did, well, particularly the parts which focus on Eve and Julian together. The book was published in the USA in 1924 (so Vita didn't give up). The dedication written for the now estranged Violet is in a secret Romany style language that Vita and Violet shared. Translated it reads : 'This book is yours, my witch. Read it and you will find your tormented soul, changed and free'. The dedication really belongs to both of them; they would never be so free again. For all this unembarrassed romanticism and real star-crossed love that happened nearly 90 years ago, the book gets 4 stars from me.