'Sunday 25th July.
?Return of the Soldier? - (Rebecca West).
A very sad book. The hero is rather imbecile as interpreted by the woman character who tells the story.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Gerald Moore Print: Book
'I have been reading a very fine essay by Rebecca West, ?The Strange Necessity?. It is on the nature of Art ? and even Robert Lynd considers it difficult. I?ve just finished my second reading ? and will go through it again to copy out definitions. She has really a first class mind.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Winifred Agnes Moore Print: Book
Virginia Woolf to Ottoline Morrell, 18 August 1922:
'Poor Rebecca West's novel bursts like an over stuffed sausage. She pours it all in; and one is
covered with flying particles; indeed I had hastily to tie the judge tight and send it back to
Mudies [Library] half finished. But this irreticence does not make me think any the worse of
her human qualities [...] I do admire poor old Henry [James], and actually read through the
Wings of a Dove [1902] last summer, and thought it such an amazing acrobatic feat, partly of
his, partly of mine, that I now look upon myself and Henry James as partners in merit. I made
it all out. But I felt very ill for some time afterwards. I am now reading Joyce, and my
impression, after 200 out of 700 pages, is that the poor young man has got the dregs of a
mind compared even with George Meredith. I mean if you could weigh the meaning on Joyces
[sic] page it would be about 10 times as light as on Henry James'.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Virginia Woolf Print: Book
Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West, 17 September 1929:
'I've only read 30 pages of Rebecca [West] [...] I agree that the convention is tight and
affected and occasionally foppish beyond endurance, but then it is a convention and she does
it deliberately, and it helps her to manufacture some pretty little China ornaments for the
mantelpiece. One could read some of it again'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Virginia Woolf Print: Book
'I say, has Rebecca West's book come your way? It is unreadable. It is a brew of Meredith, 'Orlando' and Amanda Ross.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Vita Sackville-West Print: Book
'It was at this meeting, where she was one of the speakers, that I first saw Rebecca West, whose novel "The Judge", which had recently been published, I had read with a disturbed and passionate interest.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Vera Brittain Print: Book
