The Letters of Evelyn Waugh and Diana Cooper

by Evelyn Waugh, Lady Diana Cooper, Artemis Cooper (Editor)

Evelyn Waugh was not only one of the foremost novelists of his generation, he was also one of the last great practitioners of the art of letter writing. This previously unpublished correspondence between Waugh and Lady Diana Cooper reveals him at his witty and sparkling best.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literature, Biography

344 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 1991

About the author

Evelyn Waugh's father Arthur was a noted editor and publisher. His only sibling Alec also became a writer of note. In fact, his book “The Loom of Youth” (1917) a novel about his old boarding school Sherborne caused Evelyn to be expelled from there and placed at Lancing College. He said of his time there, “…the whole of English education when I was brought up was to produce prose writers; it was all we were taught, really.” He went on to Hertford College, Oxford, where he read History. When asked if he took up any sports there he quipped, “I drank for Hertford.”

In 1924 Waugh left Oxford without taking his degree. After inglorious stints as a school teacher (he was dismissed for trying to seduce a school matron and/or inebriation), an apprentice cabinet maker and journalist, he wrote and had published his first novel, “Decline and Fall” in 1928.

In 1928 he married Evelyn Gardiner. She proved unfaithful, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Waugh would derive parts of “A Handful of Dust” from this unhappy time. His second marriage to Audrey Herbert lasted the rest of his life and begat seven children. It was during this time that he converted to Catholicism.

During the thirties Waugh produced one gem after another. From this decade come: “Vile Bodies” (1930), “Black Mischief” (1932), the incomparable “A Handful of Dust” (1934) and “Scoop” (1938). After the Second World War he published what is for many his masterpiece, “Brideshead Revisited,” in which his Catholicism took centre stage. “The Loved One” a scathing satire of the American death industry followed in 1947. After publishing his “Sword of Honour Trilogy” about his experiences in World War II - “Men at Arms” (1952), “Officers and Gentlemen” (1955), “Unconditional Surrender" (1961) - his career was seen to be on the wane. In fact, “Basil Seal Rides Again” (1963) - his last published novel - received little critical or commercial attention.

Evelyn Waugh, considered by many to be the greatest satirical novelist of his day, died on 10 April 1966 at the age of 62.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_W...

Reviews

[Annie Garvey]

This was hard going. I kept forgetting who was who.

[False]

I'm fairly certain I've read this before. It was drudgery. The letters just weren't that good. A ton of footnotes regarding various personages. I had read the correspondence of Patrick Leigh Fermor and the Duchess of Devonshire (Deborah Mitford) and it made me long for such a friendship. I'll give Waugh one thing--he wasn't writing for posterity. Also, highly critical (perhaps with accuracy) about his children. Do people still have such friendships where they are covered in royal feathers and fame? It's hard to imagine. And no one writes anymore. This is definitely a dying form of book, given editing authors would have to work with emails....and who saves emails?

[Jaylia3]

I was first intrigued by Diana Cooper when I encountered her in the book about Britain in 1911--The Perfect Summer. These letters with Waugh are from a later period in her life.