Selected Letters of Rebecca West

February 7, 2000
The eclectic, energetic correspondence of Dame West (1892-1983) begins here with the 14-year-old West, born Cicily Fairfield, writing precociously on women's suffrage to the editor of the Scotsman. It finishes, after one of the longest, most active careers in English letters, in 1982, with West's descriptive powers still vital. West's dual career as novelist and journalist pays a dividend in her vivid depictions of her travels, notably to the U.S. and pre-WWII Yugoslavia. The drama of the historic events of which she writes--the Nuremberg trials, the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa ("we were... simultaneously afraid of an outbreak of the Africans in the townships and of arrest by the Government"), the obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover ("the reasons for the jury's decision were manifest in the Judge's vile temper")--is matched by the richness of her address book. Her correspondents include Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Harold Ross, Lionel Trilling and Emma Goldman. Unfortunately for the paper trail of her notorious romance with H.G. Wells, Wells and West's son, Anthony, destroyed some personal letters, particularly from the earliest period of their relationship. Combing assorted archives, editor Scott, a professor of English at the University of Delaware, has tracked down later ones, from slightly embarrassing pet name exchanges ("Dearest Jaguar"/"Your loving Panther") to bitter disputes over child custody and finances. West's other relationships could be equally complicated, and she had hoped to keep her private and literary lives separate--but Scott diligently reintegrates them here, well representing the same brilliant, awkward chaos with which she lived.

May 1, 2000
Dame Rebecca West (1892-1983)--novelist, journalist, essayist, literary critic, travel writer, and political writer--wrote with vigor throughout her 90 years. In addition to these genres, West wrote several letters a day, an estimated 10,000 in her lifetime. Of those surviving, Scott (English, Univ. of Delaware) selected over 200 from family and library collections in the United States and Great Britain for this volume. Arranged chronologically, the letters reflect West's personality, political concerns (e.g., suffrage, communism, fascism, Fabian socialism, apartheid, and Cold War espionage), love affair with H.G. Wells, literary opinions and interpretations of contemporaries (e.g., George Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Emma Goldman, and Fanny Hurst), travels, and concerns with biographical works written by her son, Anthony West; Victoria Glendinning; and Gordon Ray. Scott provides succinct, informative introductions to each section of letters. This well-edited volume will help contribute to scholarship on West. Recommended for academic libraries.--Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, NJ

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