One of my continued passions is Edwardian era history and as I keep reading more books about it, some people pop up over and over again until finally I either buy a biography or their letters and diaries to figure out what they were up to. Harold Nicolson is one of those people who show up in every book you will read about the 1900s through to the 1960s, as he was involved in huge amounts of historical events and had a very busy social life that involved many important and famous people. He wrote prodigiously, so his works are always getting cited as sources. If you’re reading about diplomacy, he’s there; if you’re reading about novels, he’s there; if you’re reading about LGBT+ history, he’s there — no matter the subject, he will probably pop up cheerfully and have something interesting to say. I was excited to find this two volume biography for a good price at the used book store, a nicely serendipitous discovery as I was given three volumes of his letters and diaries for Christmas but wanted an overview before I dove into those.
James Lees-Milne (himself a very interesting person whom I will probably track down a biography and the diaries of) does a wonderful job of presenting Harold Nicolson and endearing him to the reader. I’m sure it helped immensely that Lees-Milne was Nicolson’s lover, so you’re getting a real insider’s viewpoint. Lees-Milne is able to balance the political events that Nicolson was involved in with the more salacious or gossipy events of his life. He explains the sometimes labyrinthine politics of the pre- and post-WWI era very cogently and for someone like me, who usually slogs through these sections in order to get to the personal life events, he made them readable and comprehensible. Lees-Milne is a great writer who gets across the psychological aspects of his subject and uses some very beautiful prose to do so. He shows you the strength of Nicolson’s marriage to his wife, Vita Sackville-West, and describes the well-known events of Vita fleeing off with Violet Keppel in a way that didn’t feel exploitative or condescending. I’ve read another book that focused on this from the women’s point of view so it was interesting to see if from Nicolson’s and to see the struggles that he went through, as well as their continued relationship afterwards. This book is definitely slanted towards him, but I thought Lees-Milne did a good job of showing the stress that Vita was under and he presented their continued extramarital relationships in a matter of fact way. It worked for them! I do wish that Lees-Milne had dug more into Nicolson’s antisemitism, which was talked about on two pages (323-324) and then moved on from — maybe we’ll get more into it in the second volume as WWII approaches. Nicolson is presented as such a cheerful and kind figure overall that I wondered if Lees-Milne was having trouble separating his own relationship with him from the biography. I wondered what his opinions on other races were and also wished that we could have had more information about “his somewhat wild accusations of women’s weaknesses” (p.372). Clearly if you were in his social class and were white, he was an amazing person to have as your friend, but I had nagging doubts about how he would have treated other groups.
Overall, though, Lees-Milne presents such a charming portrait of Nicolson that it’s impossible to finish this book without liking and admiring him. His relationship with Vita is fascinating and the world events he participated in are extremely important. This book gives great insight about both and about Nicolson as a person. It’s a psychologically astute book and I’m looking forward to reading the second volume.