BBC Radio 4 Extra, 24-28 June 2013
Adam Nicolson's fascinating piece
of autobiographical writing looks at the significance of Sissinghurst, the garden created by his grandfather and wife Harold
Nicolson and Vita Sackville West, and its impact on his family.
Outwardly a beautiful place created as part of a wish-fulfilment fantasy, Sissinghurst eventually
became some kind of a prison, both mental and physical, for a family pathologically unable to communicate with one another.
This is ironic, given that most of them were writers; but as Nicolson suggested, the ability to set down words does not necessarily
mean an ability to disclose one's feelings. Text can obfuscate as well as enlighten.
More damagingly, the family found that in
order to survive, they had to admit visitors. Many of the buildings, which had once been part of the family estate,
were converted into visitor amenities. This certainly improved revenues, but transformed the property into a shell,
deprived of any significant memories. By the time Adam's father Nigel died in 2004, the property was financially successful
but lifeless.
Sissinghurst was a fascinating account of how oppressive the past can be, especially when it is always there
with the Nicolson family in terms of the house and garden. It is up to individuals to try and negotiate that past, which
is precisely what Adam tried to do. Read by the author himself, this was a fascinating piece of self-analysis.
