Autograph manuscript of untitled short story : [Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent, ca. 1935?].

ArchivalResource

Sackville-West, V. (Victoria), 1892-1962. Autograph manuscript of untitled short story : [Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent, ca. 1935?].

Autograph manuscript of untitled short story : [Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent, ca. 1935?].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/771027762

The story of an obsessive automobile society traffic scout who is stationed at a quiet rural crossroads: "He knew nearly all the habitués of the road by sight: the doctor in his Studebaker, the solicitor in his high Ford, the local lord in his Rolls-Royce. He knew which bonnet [i.e., hood] bore the badge [of his automobile society] and which did not. The native snobbery of his soul concentrated entirely on cars, and the rest of the world seemed to lie beyond the constant cloud of dust raised by the passing wheels." The loneliness of his occupation slowly drives him insane. One day he sees two cars converging, each unaware of the other, neither bearing his society's badge. In a mad fury he signals to each that the road is clear. After the collision, the sight of "the bloody human debris" shocks the scout into reviving sanity and a horror at what he has done.

1 item (3 leaves) ; 33 cm.

New York Public Library System, NYPL