Last Victorians

jackcommon

Oct 10, 2025

Having enjoyed a handful of Jan Morris' travel writing and British Empire trilogy through this year I eventually come to the book and circumstance she was inevitably most defined by. Morris' sexual transition happened over the period of writing of the Pax Britannica trilogy, and it's easy to read in some linking of the two. Interesting points from this book:

Morris' life (at least what's given by her writing) revolved around the British Empire. A large part of the memoir follows Jan's coverage of and participation in the last flickers of the Empire (Oxford life, WW2, Suez, reporting on Everest, post-colonial developments), and her writing since Conundrum was still in the shadow of this. Episodes mentioned only in passing here (e.g. meeting Che or two of the Cambridge Five) show how fully spent Jan's life was. People and characters living between two generations, those living out of time etc. are always fascinating - Morris' writing brings all the worldview, attitudes and baggage that for most of Britain crumbled after 1945. What's remarkable is her ability to wrap this all up into a memoir about transition - and it making sense.

Of these attitudes, most interesting and notable throughout is Morris' attitude to gender. Her understanding of gender is as spiritual, emphasising throughout the non-physical, particularly non-sexual drive of this understanding. Morris understands gender through alignment with typical characteristics of masculine and feminine. What's most interesting is Morris' deep love for (and initially externally living the life of) the Victorian well defined middle-class ideal of masculinity, combined with her own self-perception as an observer to that way of being, a secret guest to the club. This spiritual understanding was novel to me. Morris' alignment with the characteristically feminine goes alongside with her upbringing in a time of more strictly demarcated gender divide. At first it it appeared incongruous for someone who comes across as spiritually of the 19th century to be writing of their sex transition, but through continued reading these elements reconcile without issue. The highlight of this dynamic is Morris describing how as she was further socially treated as a woman, and therefore a bad driver, she in turn became a bad driver.
Jan's writing, across Conundrum, her travel writing and historical works, all seem to slip strict genre categorisation and become something wider. Through all I've read so far, her love for the subject matter, the romantic 'sense' of time and place, always comes through strongly. Writers who are able to enthuse directly from the page earn much goodwill from the reader, and its this ability of Morris that keeps me reading.