Peter Vansittart was a master of the historical novel and a writer of outstanding talent. His works, which also encompassed anthologies and studies on literature and social history, left an indelible mark. His unique style and profound understanding of the past bring historical periods to life for contemporary readers. His extensive body of work offers compelling insights into the human experience across the centuries.
The novel offers a vibrant reimagining of the story from Wagner's opera, blending historical context with Vansittart's unique narrative style. Through a kaleidoscopic lens, it explores familiar themes and characters, enriching the original tale with depth and perspective.
These memoirs by novelist and historian Peter Vansittart chart his literary course from schooldays to the present as author of over forty highly praised works of fiction and non-fiction.He begins with an evocation of his English childhood and his early eclectic reading - including Baroness Orczy, Buchan, Dickens and A.E.W. Mason - then discusses the writers who later fascinated him, both renowned and arcane. He reflects on his friendships with V.S. Pritchett, Stephen Spender, Arnold Toynbee, Elias Canetti, Angus Wilson and Marghanita Laski. There are glimpses, too, of encounters with Anthony Burgess, George Orwell, A.L. Rowse, Kenneth Tynan, Alan Ross and L.H. Myers, and adventures with an assortment of bohemian poets, writers and artists, eccentric publishers, schoolmasters and sundry others.His distinctive and personal preoccupations with literature, history and art are illumined against a background of the General Strike, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, the Second World War and subsequent social and political changes - and, of course, developments within literature and language itself - offering a unique and revealing insight into the workings of a writer's mind.