Surprised by joy
Selina Hastings
DEEP ROMANTIC CHASM: DIARIES, 1979-1981 by James Lees-Milne, edited by Michael Bloch John Murray, f22.50, pp. 276 This volume of diaries by James Lees- Milne is the eighth to be published, and readers of the previous seven will imagine they know pretty well what to expect. But they will be in for a surprise. As well as the witty, observant, frequently prejudiced, sometimes acerbic record of an industrious and sociable literary life, we have the story of a consuming love affair. Lees-Milne at the age of 70 fell in love with a gentle, clever young man almost 50 years his junior, who from then on became the cen- tre of his existence. Just over 20 years later it is this same inamorato, Michael Bloch, who is the editor of the present volume, having been bequeathed, 'rather to my sur- prise', his old friend's literary estate. In this uniquely tricky situation Mr Bloch proves himself an impeccable editor, meticulous and fair.
At the time the two men meet, Lees- Milne is working on his biography of Harold Nicolson, and there is a great deal of angst over this, worry whether it will be approved by Nicolson's son, Nigel, or indeed be accepted by the publisher, the surly and tyrannical Norah Smallwood at Chatto & Windus. In the end all is well, but Lees-Milne, a distinguished and long-estab- lished writer, is modest about his own abili- ties and genuinely surprised by others' admiration. 'I am not an imaginative writ- er,' he says, 'my MS boring and factual, I fear, containing no fantasy.' When Alan Clark, running into him outside Brooks's, tells him how much he enjoyed the latest volume of diaries, 'which he kept beside his bed and read and re-read', Lees-Milne is incredulous: 'How can people like them to this extent?'
Three years earlier Lees-Milne and his wife Alvilde had moved into a rented house on the Duke of Beaufort's estate at Badminton, where Alvilde made a famous garden. Relations with the Duke and Duchess are uneasy, as the two couples have nothing whatever in common: the Duke lives for hunting, his wife cares only for the royal family. As she frankly admits, `No one else interests me in the least.' There is a terrible row after the Lees-Milne dogs are seen by the Duke chasing
his cherished vixen and cubs. He was almost apoplectic ... Bloody this and bloody that... Ghastly values, ghastly people ... 1 shall never set foot in the big house again.
Of course the row eventually blows over and the resolution is not kept, although the diarist's views on the arrogance of the aris- tocracy and the fatuousness of most royalty continue to be aired at frequent intervals. Perhaps unexpectedly, it is Princess Michael who meets with something almost amounting to approval — 'Too much enthusiasm, too little dignity. But I liked her.'
In most aspects it is a balanced and agreeable life laid out for our inspection, with rewarding work, travel, interesting friends, a solid and enduring marriage. Old affairs of both husband and wife are referred to, notably Alvilde's with Vita Sackville West, Jim's much more wide- ranging and going back as far as Eton (Tom Mitford) and Oxford (John Gielgud). With the approach of old age — dreaded and resented, not only in terms of personal decline but because in old age 'the truth is that friends of a lifetime become a duty, not a pleasure' — it is assumed all such relationships are in the past, until the first meeting with Michael Bloch, 'suave and dark, with large luminous eyes'. Through- out the rest of the volume the main theme is of the writer's passionate absorption in this wonderful young man. Was ever a man of seventy more blessed? It is going to be a platonic relationship, and possibly the deepest of my whole life.'
Unsurprisingly, Alvilde is less than thrilled with this change in their situation. Although he loves her dearly, her husband is blind to her anxiety, impatient with her sulks and jealous outbursts.
All the way home in the car she would hardly speak, except to say that she thought she would not do another gardening book because she had so much on her mind which made her unhappy. Now this does not seem to me to be reasonable behaviour. On return home managed to telephone M
At intervals Alvilde tries to pull herself together and behave well, but neither toler- ance nor detachment come easily to one of her ferocious temperament. Her increas- ingly determined efforts to undermine the affair promise well for the next volume.
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