Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) se Diaries and Letters, 1939-1945 (edited by Nigel Nicolson, London: Collins, 1967, 511p) is die tweede boekdeel (vir die eerste boekdeel kyk: SêNet, 10 deser) en handel oor die era wat deur die Tweede Wêreldoorlog oorheers is. Harold was toe ’n parlementslid en bekend vir sy radiokommentaar oor politieke sake. Robert Bernays het aan hom ’n onbeholpe kompliment gegee: "You never realise that you are a national figure of the s-s-s-s-s-second d-d-d-d-d-degree" (p 17, 402).
Daar is ’n ander kostelike staaltjie oor ’n hakkelaar. "I dined yesterday at the Travellers and sat next to ... James Langley ... An elderly gentleman came in just as we had begun and took the table on my other side. James told me that he had had a letter from Nigel [Harold se seun]. He added that Nigel had had himself photograped in order to please Mummy and me. But when the photograph was developed it was too awful to send. 'He told me', James continued, 'that it made him look so beastly -m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.' The man on the other side finished his soup and started on some hashed chicken. 'So beastly', persisted James, 'm-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.' The man finished his chicken and was given ... some cold Christmas pudding. 'So beastly m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.' 'Untidy?' I suggested, wishing to help. James shook his head firmly in the negative and began again. 'So beastly -m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.' 'Fat?' I tried, not wishing to be hard on Nigel, but hoping somehow to bring this umming to an end. James again indicated dissent. The gentleman beside me finished his Christmas pudding, and said he thought he would like to try an apple. 'So beastly m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mmmmm-stout', he ejaculated at last. The old gentleman by then had paid his bill and left" (p 336-337).
Harold se skrywes bied goeie insig in die gebeure en die geestestoestand van die oorlogsjare. Die inskrywing vir 5 September 1939 lui: "I do not really see how we can win this war" (p 30). ’n Mens kan die verloop van die oorlog in die teks volg, van die pessimisme by die Britte aan die begin via die ontberings tot by die uiteindelike oorwinning oor Nazi-Duitsland.
Opmerklik is die groot aanhang wat Winston Churchill toe onder Britse politici en die publiek geniet het. "Winston is the embodiment of the nation's will" (p 205). "When he feels that he has the whole House [of Commons] with him, he finds it difficult to conceal his enjoyment of his speech ... He thrusts both his hands deep into his trouser pockets, and turns his tummy now to the right, now to the left, in evident enjoyment of his mastery of the position ... my love and admiration of Winston surge round me like a tide!" (p 208). Minder bekend is hoe dikwels die orator Churchill trane in sy oë gekry en selfs gehuil het (p 85, 100, 344-345, 412). [Dalk is dit vir hom wat Kenneth Kaunda nageaap het.]
Na Clement Attlee word verwys as "the absurdity of that small man. As someone remarked afterwards: 'It is difficult to make a defeat sound like a victory: but to make such a victory sound like a defeat is a masterpiece in human ingenuity'" (p 295-296).
Harold het Charles de Gaulle as hardkoppig en verwaand ervaar. "His arrogance and fascism annoy me. But there is something like a fine retriever dog about his eyes" (p 195). De Gaulle "is an eagle with bad habits. Winston, who is a house-trained eagle, does not see claw to claw with him" (p 289). "I should like to admire de Gaulle, but I cannot do so" (p 225).
Die Amerikaanse ambassadeur in Londen, Joseph Kennedy (JFK se pa) wek deurgaans ’n swak indruk by Harold. Jan Smuts beïndruk hom ook nie juis nie. "He utters every commonplace that we have all been trying to avoid for years" (p 251). In 1944 "Smuts had declared publicly that France would never be a great power again." "The Germans exploited this skilfully. They printed millions of copies of Smuts' speech and left them in the Metro for people to pick up" (p 363).
"I ... hate TE Lawrence ... he acquired a legend without deserving it: he was fundamentally fraudulent" (p 66-67). "I do not like heroes. I feel mean about all this, but I do not like the TE Lawrence brood ... The literary temperament is only tolerable so long as it remains cowardly" (p 301).
Harold besin oor die aard van sy dagboek: "One should write one's diary for one's great-grandson ... One should have a remote, but not too remote, audience" (p 199). Hy verdedig deurgaans sy vertroue in die aristrokrasie van sy gees. "How deplorable is the standard of life and civilization among the urban proletariat" (p 33). In die Walliese steenkooldistrikte is daar ’n "lack of spirit in the men ... a generation poisoned by the dole and unemployment" (p 249).
"I have hated the rich, but I have loved learning, scholarship, intelligence and the humanities. Suddenly I am faced with the fact that all these lovely things are supposed to be 'class privileges'" (p 57). "It is impossible ... to achieve equality of opportunity" (p 119). Die Franse Girondiste "discovered that 'the people' are not as attractive as they seemed when they were oppressed ... the masses do not care for truth ... they are apt to identify the virtues of loyalty, tolerance and honesty as bourgeois inhibitions ... the things of the mind are reactionary and slightly out of date" (p 323-324). "The 'sound common sense' of the British working man is a mere legend" (p 332).
"Belonging to a definite class, by birth, education, experience and consequent outlook" behoort eerder as ’n feit aanvaar te word as om daarvan "an adverse criticism" te maak. "It is no good expecting a gentle person of sensibility and culture to care for the rough-and-tumble" (p 351). "I am ... depressed by ignorance" (p 471). "I hate the destruction of elegance" (p 170). "War assuredly is the ugliest of all things" (p 161). Hy haal George Trevelyan aan: "Civilisation is always recognisable" (p 140). In 1940 geniet Harold en sy vrou, Vita, ’n ete by hulle bure, die Drummonds: "All the virtues of aristocracy hang about those two crippled and aged people, and none of the vulgarity of wealth" (p 117).
Vita was selfs meer uitgesproke as Harold: "I hate democracy ... I like an intelligent oligarchy. I wish la populace had never been encouraged to emerge from its rightful place" (p 433). "Any attempt to spread the benefits of 'the new world' to 'the masses' ... would end in the loss of all refinement" (p 24). Aan die einde van 1944 skryf Harold aan Vita: "The world for people like you and me is becoming a grim place" (p 420). Nigel: "They feared the permanence of the new vulgarity which the war had introduced" (p 24).
Vervolg.
Johannes Comestor