The Degeneracy of Lytton Strachey

Author and champagne socialist Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) engaged in a ménage à trois from 1917 until his death. Strachey's companions were artist Dora Carrington (1893-1932) and writer Ralph Partridge (1894-1960). Existing on the periphery of the Bloomsbury Group, Carrington knew about Strachey's dalliances with boys, including the ward of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie. Strachey's attitude towards women and his male lovers reveals his cynicism and bitterness. More critically acclaimed today than she was in her life, Carrington shot herself a few months after Strachey's death. She had been abandoned by Partridge, Strachey, had undergone an abortion and would use a gun owned by Guinness brewery owner Hon. Bryan Guinness. Learn more about this triangle of lovers and their Bloomsbury Group connections in this video.

Sources:

Dora Carrington, Diaries (1916-1932)

"Dora Carrington", A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (Oxford University Press), https://artuk.org/discover/artists/carrington-dora-18931932

Jessica Boyall, "The paintings and passion of Dora Carrington" (Feb. 2020), https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-paintings-and-passion-of-dora-carrington

Michael Holroyd, "Lytton Strachey: The New Biography" (1994)

Gerald Brenan | Writer and Hispanist | Southern Spain. www.andalucia.com.

Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, The Life of Gerald Brenan (1994)

Roy Johnson, "The Letters of Lynton Strachey", MANTEX, https://mantex.co.uk/the-letters-of-lytton-strachey/ (2006)

Kathryn Hughes, "Sizzle, spice and not very nice: 100 years of the tell-all biography", The Guardian (2018), https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/06/rage-takedowns-and-scandals-lytton-stracheys-eminent-victorians-at-100

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