Mitfords
Six sisters raised in an unorthodox manner, with their own argot, Honnish,
with education being for boys, not girls, they never had a formal
education, yet despite that hindrance, two of them went on to become
celebrated writers, with Nancy Mitford regarded as one of the best
writers of the 20th century. They are a topic of conversation that would make any Anglophiles sqweee with joy and historians of the bright young things generation pant. In any time period the Mitfords would be called eccentric which made them all the more memorable. As The New York Times said: "A Nazi, a Fascist, a Communist, a Novelist, a Countrywoman, a Duchess...Sisters." The eldest,
Nancy, went on to be famous for her novels satirising her family,
Pamela's lesbian relationship didn't raise many eyebrows especially
because her younger sister Diana married the heir to the Guinness
fortune then left him for Walter Mosley, the leader of Britian's
Fascist movement, eventually marrying in Joseph Goebbels' drawing
room with Hitler in attendance. Unity was much like her sister Diana, in
that she too flocked to Hitler, but was so torn when Britain and
Germany declared war that she shot herself in the head, but didn't die until after the war, lingering but wounded. Jessica meanwhile was a staunch Communist and ran
off with her cousin to the Spanish Civil War, they eventually married. Deborah
on the other hand was quite docile, having married the Duke of
Devonshire and eventually taking the reigns of Chatsworth, one of the great houses of
England, and turning it into one of the most successful country homes
and tourist attractions. Of the six sisters, only Pamela and Unity never took pen to paper. While
Nancy wrote fiction, it seems that the sisters main literary interest
was in non-fiction. Writing biographies, not just of famous people, but
also contrasting biographies of themselves. Besides their own writing
there has been a plethora of books written on them, even a series of murder mysteries wherein they solve crimes from when they were bright young socialites. Controversial,
stylish and notorious... They are an unforgettable family.
Post a Comment