Now remembered mainly for her eccentricities, Edith Sitwell was one of the most gifted poets of the twentieth century and probably the most flamboyant of her dazzling circle of friends, which included T. S. Eliot, Cecil Beaton, and Gertrude Stein.
Breaking away from their unhappy aristocratic background, Edith and her brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, took an active part in the artistic life of the 1920's and campaigned against dullness in the arts, promoting new talent such as James Purdy and Dylan Thomas, one of Edith's proteges, despite the embarrassment his "rowdy habits caused her.
This in-depth study of the life of an extraordinary and complex woman was written with the full cooperation of the Sitwell family and includes material from the family letters as well as photographs from a fascinating period in cultural history.
Contains 8 pages of b/w photographs.
