Nest of Tigers

A Nest of Tigers: The Sitwells in Their Times by John Lehmann, 275 pages

"We are as cosy as a nest of tigers on the Ganges," was how Dame Edith Sitwell described her relationship with her brothers, Sir Osbert and Sacheverell, to her friend John Lehmann.  This provided the title for Lehmann's admiring portrait of the Sitwell family, their literary works in all their variety, their roles in the English Modernist avant-garde, and their relations with their contemporaries both famous and obscure.

Although the book concentrates as much on their works as on their lives, Lehmann writes more as a friend rather than as a critic, and his obvious sympathy with the Sitwells is perfectly mirrored by his antipathy towards their detractors.  The result is not, perhaps, as fine as a more objective evaluation might have been.  It is, however, undoubtedly more charming.

Spanish Baroque

Spanish Baroque Art, with Buildings in Portugal, Mexico, and Other Colonies by Sacheverell Sitwell, 108 pages

Sacheverell Sitwell's guide to the Baroque architecture of the Iberian nations and their colonies is not a book of art history so much as it is a travelogue, as the author takes the reader on an international tour of interesting sites and sights that fit his theme.  The word "indescribable" appears repeatedly.  The book includes only a few black and white photographs illustrating the subjects - luckily, the 21st century provides easy access to better images.  Sitwell certainly suggests plenty of interesting things to admire, including many secreted away in the Spanish countryside far from the tourist centers, while also reminding the reader of the truly global appeal of the Baroque.

Music and Ceremonies

Music and Ceremonies by Edith Sitwell, 44 pages

Music and Ceremonies was one of Dame Sitwell's last volumes of poetry published before her death in 1964 at age 77.  Unsurprisingly, the poems dwell on matters of aging and memory and death, but also spring and resurrection, and hope for a final harmony.

Sitwell's poems are interesting in part because, while they are formally excellent, they seem somehow artificial and uninspired, which may be why she is better known as a judge of poetry than as a poet in her own right.