Talk:Lady Angela Forbes

Sitwell (mis)quotation
The Sitwell quotation is given without much context.

It seems to come from her autobiography, Taken Care Of (first published in 1965, shortly after the author's death; republished in 2011), where Sitwell is writing about Forbes's unkempt appearance: those paragraphs also mention "an impression of tattered hairiness"; and then, in answer to a perceived insult by Forbes of her brother Sacheverell Sitwell, Edith waspishly adds that "all the young males of her acquaintance referred to her, invariably, by words of one syllable - one Biblical, the other veterinary". Nice work, Edith. Classy.

It is followed by a back-handed compliment, calling Forbes the "epitome of the Edwardian reign", although earlier she is "a bad hang-over from the Edwardian era"; an "obstructionist" whose behaviour made it difficult to protect her good name. In context, this seems to be a bad thing, but in modern terms you might say Forbes would not conform to society's strict rules for women of her class and gender.

Have these undercurrents been explored in the literature anywhere? 213.205.240.161 (talk) 08:35, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

As is clear from the link above, and reviews of the 1965 publication, Leslie misquotes the original, which says Forbes is "an elderly gorilla afflicted with sex-appeal" - that is, "afflicted" not "affected" and hyphenated "sex-appeal". 213.205.240.161 (talk) 11:39, 14 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I corrected the quote in the article, based on Google books online version of Sitwell's autobiography, and Huon corrected the quote (of the misquote) that was on wp Main Page in DYK. I think major surgery to the article should wait, however, until it is no longer linked from the main page. HouseOfChange (talk) 12:12, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

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 * Lady Angela Forbes, by Dorothy Wilding (1921).jpg