Nigel Nicolson, Portrait of a Marriage and Esther Newton, “The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman” (Newton article available on JSTOR)

Reading assignment in Nicolson: Foreward (by Nigel Nicolson), Part I, Part III (both by Vita Sackville-West), Part IV (by Nigel Nicolson)

Writing Assignment: Answer both of the numbered sets of questions below (two complete paragraphs for each set, for a total of four paragraphs):

1. How does Vita Sackville-West understand her own sexuality? Does she see herself as a lesbian? Why does she marry Harold Nicolson? Why does she go back to him? (and spend the rest of her life married to him…)

2. Who was the “Mythic Mannish Lesbian”? Who was the “New Woman” of the 1920s? What did people think that they had in common in the 1920s?

Questions to consider:

​How does Vita Sackville-West understand her own sexuality? Does she see herself as a lesbian?
​Why does she marry Harold Nicolson? Why does she go back to him? (and spend the rest of her life married to him…)
​In what way does Vita Sackville-West’s social class (she is an aristocrat) influence her behavior and her attitudes toward her sexuality? Would she see herself and her own feelings differently if she were living today rather than in the 1920s? If so, how?

​What can we learn about the aristocrats and “typical” aristrocratic behavior and values from this book?

​Who was the “Mythic Mannish Lesbian”? Who was the “New Woman” of the 1920s? What did people think that they had in common in the 1920s?

​How is homosexuality understood in the 1920s and 1930s? How does Radclyffe Hall explain it? What do Radclyffe Hall and Vita Sackville-West have in common? How do they differ in their feelings about their own sexuality – and in their assumptions about what it means to be sexually attracted to women?