Young Bloomsbury: the generation that reimagined love, freedom and self-expression

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All of which brings us to the question that kept coming up while reading Strachey’s book. There was something unbelievable about it. It’s hard to describe what caused disbelief, but I wanted to know what privileged or non-privileged others thought of the Bloomsbury set. These were the celebrated “Bright Young Things” about whom so many thought and wrote, yet they were as mentioned seemingly majority homosexual. Men and women. That’s what’s hard to believe. I don’t write the latter out of homophobia or anything of the sort. It’s more with wonder. Was London really this advanced in the 1920s whereby all the culture wars about sexuality that took place in the U.S. in between were leapfrogged? Again, questions. Were the homosexuals of that era at the top of the social heap as Strachey seems to allude, or truly outsiders for living as they did? And if outsiders, why did they shine so bright? Treats for under the tree: Top 10 festive gift ideas that promise to be all THEY want for Christmas Girls Aloud 'WILL perform Glastonbury in honour of late bandmate Sarah Harding and take to the stage for the festival's ICONIC legends slot'

On the couch: FIVE surprising ways you can use a psychology degree - from clinical and occupational to forensic psychologyChristina Aguilera sparks a fan frenzy as she arrives at her Melbourne afterparty following rained-out performance at Always Live festival The central core of this book is the relationship between the two Bloomsbury generations: the way the elders created a space for acceptance, self-expression, and queerness that allowed the young generation to flourish, and in turn, the younger generation provided novelty and creativity and, y’know, their nubile twenty-something bodies for bonking. In all seriousness, the environment cultivated by the elder Bloomsburys does seem to have been genuinely beneficial—radical, too, in its gender equality (class less so, however, something this book gently elides) and sexual openness, especially in contrast to the repression of the times. And the book itself does its best to honour the queerness of its subjects: there’s frank discussion of polyamory and pansexuality, as well as expressions of gender nonconformity that we might today recognise as reflections of trans or nonbinary identity. Insightfully analyzes the substance of Bloomsbury’s social network, how their lives intertwined as a kind of queer chosen family, and how they adapted to heteronormative expectations while remaining true to their desires and identities…Written in lucid prose, this is a dream to read for those interested in queer history.” —Kirkus The changing face of Doctor Who and his companions: Your ultimate guide to every Time Lord for the 60th anniversary

Gender fluidity? Pansexuality? Throuples? Chosen families? Cross-dressing? Kinks? Young Bloomsbury explores a place and time when queer life blossomed’ Washington Post You say we shall all need each other’s support during the coming months. But I am at all seasons and in all places terribly dependent upon you for my peace of mind and way of life. I seem to become more & more so. And you must in return call upon me by day and by night when you are in need. (81) Shia LaBeouf's daughter Isabel, one, flashes a sweet smile as he pushes her in a stroller through PasadenaBut Strachey is strict with us when it comes to our assumptions. When she writes about Julia ­Strachey marrying the sculptor Stephen ‘Tommy’ Tomlin (and you know from Day One it’s going to be a disaster — ‘the most dismal ceremony’, remarked Virginia Woolf, and off Tommy went to ­London for the first of his many debauches), she tells us we mustn’t have ‘a gendered view’ of their marriage, or see the wife as a mere victim of her husband’s limitless appetite for extramarital affairs.

In the 1920s a new generation stepped forward to invigorate the Bloomsbury Group – creative young people who tantalised the original ‘Bloomsberries’ with their captivating looks and provocative ideas.

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An “illuminating” ( Daily Mail , London) exploration of the second generation of the iconic Bloomsbury Group who inspired their elders to new heights of creativity and passion while also pushing the boundaries of sexual freedom and gender norms in 1920s England. Leaving your beauty routine out in the cold? Three beauty experts on the skin, hair and nail tips they're giving their celebrity clients this winter Patsy Kensit 'rekindles romance with property tycoon fiancé' Patric Cassidy four months after splitting Young Bloomsbury"'s biggest flaw is that it introduces a fascinating array of characters and a convincing thesis from an inside source but moves too swiftly to blossom into a portrait worthy of its subject.

SARAH VINE: Royal biographer Omid Scobie may be a leech... but the treachery of Harry was so much worse Having read this, I feel it will be of more interest to those who haven’t, perhaps, read as many books about the Bloomsbury group as I have. Of course, author Nino Strachey is a relative of Lytton Strachey, one of the ‘Old Bloomsbury’ set and so I had hoped for some real insights and unseen material. The idea behind this title being that the emphasis will not be on Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, etc. but on the ‘Young Bloomsbury’ set that followed them and were inspired by their flouting of conventions and open conversation. Seen by many at the time as smug and self-absorbed, they were followed by the ‘Bright Young Things’ of the Twenties, who were impressed and encouraged to be open about their sexuality by the generation of writers and artists who preceded them.

Customer reviews

I have long known of and been interested in the Bloomsbury Group - they are an incredibly well documented, romanticised and, dare I say it, likely overdone in many ways… However, bringing a fresh new lens to the second generation of the group, particularly as written by a direct descendent really reignited this for me. I loved meeting all these individuals chronicled in more detail - and it was astounding to see how many parallels there were between this younger generation, and so many people I know and are friends with now, and the causes they advocate for. There is a really central thread throughout this not only of self-expression, and authentic self, but of the fight for socialism (at one point capitalism is described as “thoroughly despicable”), Labour activism (the reality of class division and the differentiation between card carrying Labour members and those who remained on the fence) , and the ongoing dismissal of the notion of fair dealings between classes as ‘ideological’, and class traitorship. Ring any bells with the current political climate…? Maybe there’s much less of a book without it, but the chapters go from conquest to conquest. This will perhaps excite some, bother others, and bring on indifference in still others. At the same time, there’s an argument that what Strachey reports has useful significance about the present. Indeed, while reading Young Bloomsbury I found myself wishing those on the hunt to ruin existing lives for how some acted in the past would read Strachey’s book. To do so would be to see that those who were part of “Young Bloomsbury” were seemingly all sexual predators. Keynes, whom Strachey describes as “one of the wealthier hosts in Bloomsbury,” “used his position” to “befriend and seduce undergraduates.” It all reads as normal until we see individuals in the here and now losing their careers for doing in the past what so many did. One guesses that Keynes’s predatory ways with younger males was an open secret. Right or wrong, at the time it was seemingly viewed as normal within this elite world. And it’s something to think about as we apply present-day morals to what happened in the past. Eventually what George Will describes as “presentism” will get us all. You walk in an alley sheltered and comely … your hedges are grown so tall that you know nothing of the sun, save that he falls sometimes perpendicular on your vanity and warms your self-complacency at noon.”