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Brief Lives
Brief Lives: Evelyn Waugh
An examination of the man behind the myth, his writings, and their significance then and now
Evelyn Waugh was the finest novelist of his generation in England, the "Commanding Officer" mourned by Graham Greene. He also lived a life less ordinary than most, which, like his alter ego Pinfold's, became increasingly stylised and anachronistic as the class he had gatecrashed lost its preeminence in the Age of the Common Man. By the time he died, halfway through the "swinging sixties," he was regarded as, at best, a museum piece. Then, following the posthumous publication of his riveting Diaries and Letters, he and his work experienced a renaissance that continues to this day, and not just in the English-speaking world.
Evelyn Waugh was the finest novelist of his generation in England, the "Commanding Officer" mourned by Graham Greene. He also lived a life less ordinary than most, which, like his alter ego Pinfold's, became increasingly stylised and anachronistic as the class he had gatecrashed lost its preeminence in the Age of the Common Man. By the time he died, halfway through the "swinging sixties," he was regarded as, at best, a museum piece. Then, following the posthumous publication of his riveting Diaries and Letters, he and his work experienced a renaissance that continues to this day, and not just in the English-speaking world.
135 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2013
12 people want to read
About the author
Michael Barber
115 books24 followersSir Michael Barber is a leading educational reformer. Since May 2011, he has been the Chief Education Advisor at Pearson, the world's largest education company.
From 2001-2005 Sir Michael was the education advisor to the former British prime minister, Tony Blair. He then became the head of McKinsey's Global Education Practice.
Sir Michael has sought reform for school improvement, standards, performance, access to schools in developing countries, and access and funding in higher education.
From 2001-2005 Sir Michael was the education advisor to the former British prime minister, Tony Blair. He then became the head of McKinsey's Global Education Practice.
Sir Michael has sought reform for school improvement, standards, performance, access to schools in developing countries, and access and funding in higher education.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 15, 2018
I first came across his paperback novels published by Penguin in my college years, I hadn't known or read him before (none of his works assigned to study, I didn't know why; probably his literary stature was different from Graham Greene's) so I just picked up his The Loved One browsing a few pages and left his other titles till I would like to read him around two or three decades later. One of the reasons was that I knew him more via his biography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_...) and his fame as the one with unique sense of humor as acclaimed by those writers in his and later generation.
For some reason I've never read his life in book form, I simply longed to read his works and read them as planned. This is his first biography I was delighted to buy at the 46th National Book Fair in Bangkok this late March and early April, enjoyed reading it and broadened my understanding in terms of his writing capability, adversities and behaviors toward friends. As we can see from this extract:
To continue . . .
For some reason I've never read his life in book form, I simply longed to read his works and read them as planned. This is his first biography I was delighted to buy at the 46th National Book Fair in Bangkok this late March and early April, enjoyed reading it and broadened my understanding in terms of his writing capability, adversities and behaviors toward friends. As we can see from this extract:
Waugh's friends, all of whom knew how badly he could behave, forgave him his trepasses because they were outweighed by his qualities. 'What a monstter!' wrote Nancy Mitford. 'How I miss him!' (back cover)
To continue . . .
May 10, 2017
Part of a series that a friend of mine read volumes from a decade or so ago, this book gives a tad more information about Waugh's life than one would read in an encyclopedia but a good deal less than one would read in a fuller biographical expose. As such, it's a bit workmanlike, spilling out facts but not bringing Waugh quite to life the way a longer biography likely could and would. But it's a great for someone like me, who didn't really want to read a really long life study.
In Barber's hands, Waugh comes across as something of a bore to me. He had a caustic wit and seemed to treat people generally rudely, though the wit kept him semipopular. He was also obsessed with British tradition and class. These sort of things suggest to me that I would not have much cared for the man.
Waugh's life began rather rough, not in the sense that he grew up underprivileged but rather he grew up the less-liked son of a family. Alec, his brother (a novelist I've also read but did not realize was actually related), was papa's favorite. Thus, Evelyn and his father did not get along very well. Arguably this helped to create Evelyn's personality. One thing his father did do, however, was introduce him to literary culture, for his father was a literary biographer, and often he read aloud Dickens and other nineteenth-century British authors.
Evelyn graduated to the university, where he studied literature and generally drank too much. He took up with other men, since it was an all-male school. But afterward, almost on a seeming whim, he would marry a woman named Evelyn. She-Evelyn was looking to escape her family and was not really in love with Evelyn. This would prove fateful, as a year later, she would run off with someone else. Still, the marriage granted Evelyn access to the noble class, which is something he seemed to want.
Evelyn, the writer, would turn to Catholicism to address issues with regard to the modernizing of society. Like T. S. Eliot, Evelyn seemed to find in long Western tradition the means to address changes brought about by modernism. As such, he seems like a man out of his time. Indeed, his writing, well often greatly satiric, is fairly traditional; early Evelyn experimented a bit, but he came to think that traditional techniques were all that were needed.
Catholicism wouldn't really affect his sexual behavior, however. He would continue pursue and bed women, including married ones. And he would continue to drink.
And he would marry again too, to another aristocrat. He would travel a lot, in part to write about it. He would mingle with the British literary crowd, Anthony Powell, Graham Greene, and others. He would live in an old estate that he'd purchase expressly for the sake that it would look as if it had been around (in the family) for generations.
While he would enjoy quite a bit of success before World War II, his reputation would begin to take a hit later. World War II itself would prove, personally, useful to him in terms of giving him experiences to write about. He set about to become part of it. He would not, however, rise far as an officer, and the three major campaigns he was a part of would each prove not to be very successful. Waugh wasn't really cut out, personality wise, for the military anyway.
Nor does it seem that he was cut out well to be a father. He tended to spend as little time as possible with his children (though that was likely also the British way at the time--he being of a generation not far from my own father, who often denotes how parents at that time did not dote on their kids). The kids themselves, generally, appreciated his humor and were not, according to the biographer, resentful.
The war would provide fodder for his trilogy, in the midst of which he would have a breakdown, which would become material for another book. He would sue and be sued for things he'd say about others and they about him. He'd grow old. And the world would change, and he'd continue on in his conservative aristocratic leanings and seem to be of another time and era.
After his death, the posthumous publication of his diaries and letters and the television production of his novel Brideshead Revisited (a rather atypical book for him) would restore his reputation and bring him back to the literary conversation.
In Barber's hands, Waugh comes across as something of a bore to me. He had a caustic wit and seemed to treat people generally rudely, though the wit kept him semipopular. He was also obsessed with British tradition and class. These sort of things suggest to me that I would not have much cared for the man.
Waugh's life began rather rough, not in the sense that he grew up underprivileged but rather he grew up the less-liked son of a family. Alec, his brother (a novelist I've also read but did not realize was actually related), was papa's favorite. Thus, Evelyn and his father did not get along very well. Arguably this helped to create Evelyn's personality. One thing his father did do, however, was introduce him to literary culture, for his father was a literary biographer, and often he read aloud Dickens and other nineteenth-century British authors.
Evelyn graduated to the university, where he studied literature and generally drank too much. He took up with other men, since it was an all-male school. But afterward, almost on a seeming whim, he would marry a woman named Evelyn. She-Evelyn was looking to escape her family and was not really in love with Evelyn. This would prove fateful, as a year later, she would run off with someone else. Still, the marriage granted Evelyn access to the noble class, which is something he seemed to want.
Evelyn, the writer, would turn to Catholicism to address issues with regard to the modernizing of society. Like T. S. Eliot, Evelyn seemed to find in long Western tradition the means to address changes brought about by modernism. As such, he seems like a man out of his time. Indeed, his writing, well often greatly satiric, is fairly traditional; early Evelyn experimented a bit, but he came to think that traditional techniques were all that were needed.
Catholicism wouldn't really affect his sexual behavior, however. He would continue pursue and bed women, including married ones. And he would continue to drink.
And he would marry again too, to another aristocrat. He would travel a lot, in part to write about it. He would mingle with the British literary crowd, Anthony Powell, Graham Greene, and others. He would live in an old estate that he'd purchase expressly for the sake that it would look as if it had been around (in the family) for generations.
While he would enjoy quite a bit of success before World War II, his reputation would begin to take a hit later. World War II itself would prove, personally, useful to him in terms of giving him experiences to write about. He set about to become part of it. He would not, however, rise far as an officer, and the three major campaigns he was a part of would each prove not to be very successful. Waugh wasn't really cut out, personality wise, for the military anyway.
Nor does it seem that he was cut out well to be a father. He tended to spend as little time as possible with his children (though that was likely also the British way at the time--he being of a generation not far from my own father, who often denotes how parents at that time did not dote on their kids). The kids themselves, generally, appreciated his humor and were not, according to the biographer, resentful.
The war would provide fodder for his trilogy, in the midst of which he would have a breakdown, which would become material for another book. He would sue and be sued for things he'd say about others and they about him. He'd grow old. And the world would change, and he'd continue on in his conservative aristocratic leanings and seem to be of another time and era.
After his death, the posthumous publication of his diaries and letters and the television production of his novel Brideshead Revisited (a rather atypical book for him) would restore his reputation and bring him back to the literary conversation.
May 29, 2013
I admit, it would definitely be unfair of me to criticise this book for being a somewhat rapid journey through Evelyn Waugh's life. The clue is, obviously, in the title. And for that, it definitely accomplishes what it sets out to achieve.
My knowledge of Waugh, prior to this novel, was generally what I had gleaned from Wikipedia, and from his novels themselves. This book certainly gives a more rounded view of the man, and of course, the personality. Waugh was a fascinating character, and thankfully had the forethought to diarise a lot of his own life. He also had a lot of similarly blunt friends and acquaintances, who didn't hesitate in providing their views on his character.
So for that, this book is great. If you are daunted by the idea of a more voluminous biography, then this gives you a great concise overview of the pertinent events of Waugh's life. It really is about his life.
I think that is the one area where the book falls down a little. I'm reading a biography about Waugh, not only because I want to know more about the man who wrote some of the most biting and stylish novels of his era, but I want to know more about the actual work as well. This book does touch on it, but it feels rather cursory. The publication of some of Waugh's more well-known works are covered in mere paragraphs and for a fan, you're probably not going to come away with all that much new information.
I also didn't love the writing style of Barber. It isn't unreadable - far from it! - but it tended towards syntax choices that I found a little odd, especially considering conciseness is clearly the aim.
All in all, a quick and easy read for those looking for a good overview of Waugh's life. However stick with a longer biography if you want more details regarding his writing.
My knowledge of Waugh, prior to this novel, was generally what I had gleaned from Wikipedia, and from his novels themselves. This book certainly gives a more rounded view of the man, and of course, the personality. Waugh was a fascinating character, and thankfully had the forethought to diarise a lot of his own life. He also had a lot of similarly blunt friends and acquaintances, who didn't hesitate in providing their views on his character.
So for that, this book is great. If you are daunted by the idea of a more voluminous biography, then this gives you a great concise overview of the pertinent events of Waugh's life. It really is about his life.
I think that is the one area where the book falls down a little. I'm reading a biography about Waugh, not only because I want to know more about the man who wrote some of the most biting and stylish novels of his era, but I want to know more about the actual work as well. This book does touch on it, but it feels rather cursory. The publication of some of Waugh's more well-known works are covered in mere paragraphs and for a fan, you're probably not going to come away with all that much new information.
I also didn't love the writing style of Barber. It isn't unreadable - far from it! - but it tended towards syntax choices that I found a little odd, especially considering conciseness is clearly the aim.
All in all, a quick and easy read for those looking for a good overview of Waugh's life. However stick with a longer biography if you want more details regarding his writing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews