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A House in St John's Wood: In Search of My Parents
Stephen Spender's life, with all its secrets, successes, and contradictions, is a vivid prism through which to view the twentieth century. He befriended Auden and Isherwood while at Oxford, and together the three had wildly transgressive adventures in Europe and were early vocal critics of Hitler and the rise of fascism in their celebrated writings. Like his friends, Spender was drawn to other men, yet he eventually married Natasha, a world-renowned concert pianist, and started a family.
In the midst of a heady world of poetry and liberal politics, gay love affairs and tense silences, Matthew Spender grew up the child of two brilliant artists. Taught how to use adjectives by Uncle Auden and raised among the British cultural elite, Matthew led what might have been a charmed existence were it not for the tensions in his own household. His father, always susceptible to the allure of young men, was unable to stop himself, or reveal his secret, for the sake of his family; and his mother's suffering led her to infatuations of her own. A House in St John's Wood: In Search of My Parents is a son's attempt to reconstruct a portrait of his magnetic father and unconventional family out of the ambiguous experiences of his childhood.
Drawing on unpublished letters and diaries, family keepsakes and youthful memories, Matthew Spender tells the story of a singular family in the midst of its own cold war, as the artistic world of mid-century London circled around them.
In the midst of a heady world of poetry and liberal politics, gay love affairs and tense silences, Matthew Spender grew up the child of two brilliant artists. Taught how to use adjectives by Uncle Auden and raised among the British cultural elite, Matthew led what might have been a charmed existence were it not for the tensions in his own household. His father, always susceptible to the allure of young men, was unable to stop himself, or reveal his secret, for the sake of his family; and his mother's suffering led her to infatuations of her own. A House in St John's Wood: In Search of My Parents is a son's attempt to reconstruct a portrait of his magnetic father and unconventional family out of the ambiguous experiences of his childhood.
Drawing on unpublished letters and diaries, family keepsakes and youthful memories, Matthew Spender tells the story of a singular family in the midst of its own cold war, as the artistic world of mid-century London circled around them.
436 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 2015
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115 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 28, 2020
Lost me a bit towards the end...
January 29, 2016
This is a much different type book than I normally read (and I was not familar with the author's family). I tried to keep reading it, but about halfway through, I gave up on it. There are too many good books out there to read rather than slogging through one that just doesn't interest you.
March 1, 2023
This is a fascinating investigation of the relationship of Matthew Spender's parents and of his relationship to them. It begins with the death of his mother in 2010 and her attempts to thwart him gaining literary executorship of his father's work. Her death before she could exclude him from his father's literary inheritance resulted in his book - part biography and part memoir.
Matthew Spender was the son of poet, Stephen Spender, and the pianist, Natasha Litvin. However, at the core of this book is his father's sexuality and his relationships with other men, while his mother attempted to maintain the fiction that their marriage was fine and her concentration on keeping up appearances which seemed to cost her a lot. It is obvious that her son has a mixture of sympathy and exasperation with his parents. He loved both and appreciated his mother's attempts to give him and his sister stability and yet gradually realised that all was not well between them. Not only did his father have a tendency to fall, sentimentally, in love with a procession of young men, but his mother had a long and complicated relationship with the writer, Raymond Chandler.
Alongside the personal, this is an interesting account of an era. W.H. Auden taught Matthew about adjectives, his father was a friend of Guy Burgess and he grew up around the literary world and, later, when meeting his wife, artists. There is much about post-war Europe, the Cold War and the magazine his father ran, 'Encounter,' which turned out to be financed by the CIA. I found this an extremely fascinating account of life childhood and felt he was fair in his account of both his parents.
Matthew Spender was the son of poet, Stephen Spender, and the pianist, Natasha Litvin. However, at the core of this book is his father's sexuality and his relationships with other men, while his mother attempted to maintain the fiction that their marriage was fine and her concentration on keeping up appearances which seemed to cost her a lot. It is obvious that her son has a mixture of sympathy and exasperation with his parents. He loved both and appreciated his mother's attempts to give him and his sister stability and yet gradually realised that all was not well between them. Not only did his father have a tendency to fall, sentimentally, in love with a procession of young men, but his mother had a long and complicated relationship with the writer, Raymond Chandler.
Alongside the personal, this is an interesting account of an era. W.H. Auden taught Matthew about adjectives, his father was a friend of Guy Burgess and he grew up around the literary world and, later, when meeting his wife, artists. There is much about post-war Europe, the Cold War and the magazine his father ran, 'Encounter,' which turned out to be financed by the CIA. I found this an extremely fascinating account of life childhood and felt he was fair in his account of both his parents.
January 29, 2024
Never read Spenders poetry, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed his son’s memoir. MS writes very well, and the story to tell about his family is a complicated one.
February 1, 2016
I was fairly familiar with the lives of Stephen and Natasha Spender before reading A House in St John's Wood, but in this book they are unpacked and unpicked by their son, Matthew, in a way that's simultaneously ruthless and kind, and it makes these two very different individuals come alive in a way I'd never appreciated before.
The book is many things. As well as a sort of parental biography, it's an insider's account of the incestuous 20th-century Anglo-American cultural establishment (so many famous names in this book, so many). It's the clearest explanation I've ever read of the mess of the CIA's involvement in Spender's magazine, Encounter, and in left-wing culture more generally, and it makes it very clear what that meant and why it was important. On top of all that, the book is a love story. The description of Matthew's first meeting with his wife is truly beautiful.
It's very funny too. Matthew remembers taking a saltwater bath while lobsters crawled all over the floor (harrowing, but funny, and weird). Natasha takes an English A-Level and is assigned three of W.H. Auden's poems - and was definitely the only student who had W.H. Auden staying in her guest room at the time. And there's some business with a kitten that's also harrowing, but funny, and weird.
Very readable, very interesting, very candid, and very, very insightful. I think this book honours Stephen and Natasha Spender almost despite themselves.
The book is many things. As well as a sort of parental biography, it's an insider's account of the incestuous 20th-century Anglo-American cultural establishment (so many famous names in this book, so many). It's the clearest explanation I've ever read of the mess of the CIA's involvement in Spender's magazine, Encounter, and in left-wing culture more generally, and it makes it very clear what that meant and why it was important. On top of all that, the book is a love story. The description of Matthew's first meeting with his wife is truly beautiful.
It's very funny too. Matthew remembers taking a saltwater bath while lobsters crawled all over the floor (harrowing, but funny, and weird). Natasha takes an English A-Level and is assigned three of W.H. Auden's poems - and was definitely the only student who had W.H. Auden staying in her guest room at the time. And there's some business with a kitten that's also harrowing, but funny, and weird.
Very readable, very interesting, very candid, and very, very insightful. I think this book honours Stephen and Natasha Spender almost despite themselves.
to-buy
November 18, 2015Recommended by Kirkus
January 6, 2016
The son of poet Stephen Spender tries to untangle the complicated web of relationships around his parents. Some illustrations.
February 20, 2016
Great insight into the life of one of my favorite poets, I was sad to finish it. A glimpse into the married life of two fascinating people.
July 8, 2016
A finalist for the Publishing Triangle's Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction.
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December 2, 2017good read with lots of insight into the father of the author, stephen spender
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