Passenger to Teheran
by Vita Sackville-West
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In 1926 Vita Sackville-West travelled to Iran to visit her husband, Harold Nicolson, who was serving as a diplomat in Teheran. Her route was deliberately slow-paced - she stopped in Egypt, where she sailed up the Nile to Luxor; and India, where she visited New Delhi and Agra before sailing across the Persian Gulf to Iraq and on through bandit-infested mountains to Teheran. She returned to England in an equally circuitous manner and despite travelling under dangerous circumstances, through show more communist Russia and Poland in the midst of revolution, her humour and sense of adventure never failed. Passenger to Teheran is a classic work, revealing the lesser-known side of one of the twentieth century's most luminous authors. show lessTags
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In 1926 Vita Sackville-West travelled to visit her husband, Harold Nicolson, who was a diplomat posted to Teheran in 1925. On this extensive journey, she travelled via Egypt, India, Iraq, Persia, and returned via Russia and Poland. Throughout the expedition she recorded her thoughts and impressions. The published notes became well-known not only as an excellent travel description, but as a personal memoir and contemplative account of the journey. Her initial impression of the amazingly beautiful Persia, now known as Iran, is remarkably vivid. It is interesting to read about the way travel used to be, especially in the elegant, evocative style of Sackville-West: a truly enjoyable experience.
Excerpt - on approaching the pyramids in show more Egypt:
"I had formed no image of the burial ground of the Pharaohs. Indeed, it seemed incredible that within a few moments I should behold it with my eyes, and know for the rest of my life thereafter exactly what it looked like. Then it would seem equally incredible that I should not always have known. These small but stinging reflections kept me lingering; I was loth to part with my ignorance; I reproached myself with having wasted so many years in not speculating on this royal sepulchre. Never again would that delight be within my reach; for the pleasures of the imagination I was about to exchange the dreary fact of knowledge."
This edition has an introduction by Sackville-West's son, Nigel Nicolson. He has included many personal details about the trip as well as photographs that were omitted from the original work published in 1926. show less
Excerpt - on approaching the pyramids in show more Egypt:
"I had formed no image of the burial ground of the Pharaohs. Indeed, it seemed incredible that within a few moments I should behold it with my eyes, and know for the rest of my life thereafter exactly what it looked like. Then it would seem equally incredible that I should not always have known. These small but stinging reflections kept me lingering; I was loth to part with my ignorance; I reproached myself with having wasted so many years in not speculating on this royal sepulchre. Never again would that delight be within my reach; for the pleasures of the imagination I was about to exchange the dreary fact of knowledge."
This edition has an introduction by Sackville-West's son, Nigel Nicolson. He has included many personal details about the trip as well as photographs that were omitted from the original work published in 1926. show less
A colorful account of a woman's travel from England through Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, and back home through Russia and Europe. It is pretty impressive that a unaccompanied woman traveled through the Middle East at that time. Wonderful imagery of the travels and sights and people. Even the barren desert seems welcoming. If the authors name was not given it would be impossible to determine that it was written by a woman (until the closing pages when a customs agent proposes marriage).
I read this a few months ago, so, it's hard to write about it now. I do remember that I loved it. Not only is it one of my favorite genres, vintage travel, but it impressed me as one of the most beautifully written travelogues I've read.
It really made me want to read more of Vita Sackville-Wes's work. I haven't done so yet, but her work is defnitely on my radar.
It really made me want to read more of Vita Sackville-Wes's work. I haven't done so yet, but her work is defnitely on my radar.
remember finishing this while stuck in LAX waiting room due to delay or canceled flight - exceedingly annoyed because I had no other reading material
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Poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West began writing as a child. Born at elegant Knole Castle, scene of Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando (1928), Sackville-West was educated in that 365-room dwelling. In 1913 she married Harold Nicolson (see Vol. 3), journalist, diplomat, and biographer. Despite Nicolson's homosexuality and her own lesbian affair with show more Violet Trefusis, this marriage survived. Poems of East and West, her first book, was published in 1917. She remained unknown except by a small group of literary connoisseurs until 1927, when she received the Hawthornden Prize for a second volume of poetry. At this time she lived in London and was part of the Bloomsbury group, which also included Lytton Strachey (see Vol. 3), E. M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes (see Vol. 3), and Woolf. Sackville-West published many novels and volumes of poetry, biography, and family history, and several books on gardening, as well as book reviews and criticism. All of her writings reflect the same unhurried approach, deep reflection, and brilliantly polished style. Her influence on other writers, especially Woolf, was perhaps greater than her own individual achievement. The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931) are her best-known novels. Sackville-West's son, Nigel Nicholson, recounted the close, but unconventional relationship of his parents in the memoir Portrait of a Marriage, published in 1973. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Passenger to Teheran, Twelve Days
- Original publication date
- 1926
- People/Characters
- Vita Sackville-West; Gertrude Bell; Faisal I, King of Iraq
- Important places
- Iran; Iraq; Egypt; Persia; Tehran, Iran
- First words*
- Nella prefazione di 'Eothen', Kinglake dice: 'Penso di poter dichiarare in tutta sincerità che questo libro è completamente privo di qualsiasi particolare tratto da scoperte geografiche o ricerche antiquarie, di qualsiasi s... (show all)foggio di fondata erudizione e conoscenza religiosa, di qualsiasi spiegazione storica e scientifica, di qualsiasi utile statistica, di qualsiasi disquisizione politica e di qualsiasi alta riflessione morale'.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Ci pare allora legittimo domandarci se nel corso dei secoli i campi petroliferi anglopersiani non torneranno alle solitudini dei monti bakhtiyari, mentre sulle rovine di Londra, Parigi, New York sbocceranno i fiori selvatici e i campi di grano si inchineranno alle brezze per dare il pane alle popolazioni di qualche capitale lontana di cui non conosciamo ancora il nome.
- Original language*
- Inglese
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
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- 207,546
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.97)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
