A House in St John's Wood: In Search of My Parents - Hardcover

Matthew Spender

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0008132062 ISBN 13: 9780008132064

Publisher: William Collins, 2015

Synopsis

An intimate portrait of Stephen Spender’s extraordinary life written by his son, Matthew Spender, with new insights drawn from personal recollections and unpublished archives.

Stephen Spender’s life was a vivid prism on the twentieth century. Having met Auden and Isherwood at Oxford, he joined the early vocal critics of Hitler participated in the Spanish Civil War. His efforts there became distracted by the need to save his lover from being shot as a deserter, and by the outbreak of the Second World War he was judged unfit to fight. He served instead as a fireman and later produced propaganda for the war effort – establishing a mysterious connection with the Foreign Office which has generated much speculation until now. Examining on the growth of Spender’s literary reputation and his later encounters with the CIA, this book sheds new light on his career.

Always susceptible to the allure of young men, Spender remained married to his second wife, Natasha Litvin but continued to believe in male relationships as an essential creative inspiration. In tension with Natasha’s career as a musician after the birth of their two children, a considerable creative tension developed in the household. Stoical in her suffering, Natasha began to agonise over their marriage during her close friendship with Raymond Chandler.

Insightful and revelatory, ‘A House in St John’s Wood’ is the portrait of a marriage, a movement and a father whose complex brilliance continues to be felt widely – and among those closest to him.

About this title

Review:

‘It’s hard to overstate how bravely honest Matthew Spender’s book is ... brilliantly paced ... the book also matters in its own right for its insight into how we are all shaped by the strangeness of the families we find ourselves inhabiting ... a remarkable book’ Observer

‘This thoughtful and often astonishingly beautiful memoir ... is exploratory, analytical, often critical, occasionally disloyal but ultimately a deeply moving work of filial pride, an attempt to try to work out not only the truth about his extraordinary parents but also himself’ Evening Standard

‘Painfully honest ... With a son’s harsh condescension he spells out Stephen’s failings and blind spots, while not forgetting his generosity of spirit ... He writes with such insight and intelligence that it feels wholly authentic. And by widening his field of vision beyond the family home to explore issues of culture, gender and politics then and now, he makes it our business, too’ Blake Morrison, Guardian

‘Eye-popping’ Daily Mail

‘An outstanding piece of writing, full of wonderfully sharp judgements... a memoir written in such a thoughtful, congenial, matter-of-fact style that it is only after putting it down that one begins to take in the full oddity of the Spenders' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

‘The steady gaze of the writing and its compassionate heart, turn what might have been grave robbery into a valuable and moving act of recovery’ Andrew Motion, Guardian, Books of the Year

‘A disarmingly eccentric book ... which combines a memoir of his parents ... with ruminations on the gilded world in which they disported’ Literary Review

‘Scrupulously even-handed ... Matthew Spender is a far more accomplished and engaging prose writer than his father, with a distinct personal voice’ TLS

‘The heart of this book is filial and emotional. And very moving’ Financial Times

‘Told with extraordinary force and honest and is intensely interesting’ The Oldie

About the Author:

Born in 1945, Matthew Spender is a sculptor and the author of ‘Within Tuscany: Reflections on a Time and a Place’ and ‘From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky’. He lives with his wife, artist Maro Gorky, on a farm near Siena.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Collins
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0008132062
• ISBN 13: 9780008132064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448