Status
Available
Collection
Publication
New York : Counterpoint, c2005.
Description
Beginning in 1956 with the publication of A Legacy, Sybille Bedford has narrated in fiction and non-fiction what has been by turns her sensuous, harrowing, altogether remarkable life. In this magnificent memoir, she takes readers from the Berlin of World War 1, to the artists' set on the Cote d'Azur of the 1920s, through friends, lovers, mentors and family, to a relatively settled life in London's Chelsea. Whether evoking the everyday pleasures of life amongst friends or tracing the heartrending outline of an intimate betrayal, she offers spellbinding reflections on how history imprints itself on private lives.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Lenaphoenix
While slightly disjointed at times, this is a fascinating memoir. Bedford's portrait of France's expat literary world in the buildup to WWII was the most interesting part of the book for me, but I found her discussion of her development as a writer quite interesting as well.
LibraryThing member PatsyMurray
Bedford led a fascinating life living among such luminaries as Aldous Huxley, Brian Howard and the German literary refugees that flocked to southern France just before WW II. While evocative, I wanted to learn more about her and the people around her. I found annoying (and rather coy) her
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references to previous books and people whom she assumes we will identify even though she won't name them. I also found annoying the repetitive sentence structure (her writing is probably celebrated for its lyric qualities!) and the sentences so allusive that they didn't quite make sense. Too bad, because the life here has been deeply experienced and unlike that of anyone I might meet outside of the pages of a book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Faradaydon
Bedford had a fascinating story to tell, but her writing style is annoying. If only someone else had written it!
Subjects
Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Nominee — 2005)