A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh (May 2018)

[Nigeyb]

Looking at all the ratings by the names at the top of each post, of everyone who has contributed to the thread, there is no one who hasn't rated it, so I'd say we can dive in with spoilers now.

[Susan]

I was reading that Waugh got frustrated with his US publishers, who wanted a new ending - having recently had the short story, "The Man Who Liked Dickens," published there. However, I do think the ending jars. The beginning of the novel is so realistic and then you have this odd, fantastic ending. This novel has been described as his best, but it didn't beat, "Brideshead," for me, as his greatest work.

[Nigeyb]

Susan wrote: "This novel has been described as his best, but it didn't beat, "Brideshead," for me, as his greatest work."

I agree it's not the best - but, for me, up there with his best work.

I was blown away by Brideshead - a magnificent novel, one of my all time favourites. And yet, when I read Sword of Honour, and to my own amazement, I concluded it was even better still.

[Susan]

Sword of Honour is brilliant. I would put both that, and Brideshead, ahead of this. I did like it though and, in moments, it was fantastic.

[Roman Clodia]

I would also put Brideshead ahead of this - I haven't read Sword of Honour.

[Susan]

Ooh, a treat in store, RC :) I hope you find time for it one day. Did you recover from the David Peace novels?

[Roman Clodia]

What did everyone make of the title? It comes, of course, from Eliot's The Wasteland:

... I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

At first sight this feels a bit ponderous in relation to the novel but the more I think about it the more it seems to resonate. Eliot is writing about the loss of roots in all senses (historical, cultural, religious) for that 'lost' generation after WW1 and we might see that reflected in the moral carelessness of the novel's characters. Even Tony's obsessive attachment to Hetton, indicative of his family roots/history, is made to feel oppressive and an obstacle to his marriage.

I read the 'handful of dust' as a reminder of death, making John the pivot around which the novel turns.

Still pondering this...

[Roman Clodia]

Susan wrote: "Ooh, a treat in store, RC :) I hope you find time for it one day. Did you recover from the David Peace novels?"

It's on that limitless tbr! I'm finding The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is just the cosy antidote I need following Peace.

[Nigeyb]

Chalk and cheese RC

[Nigeyb]

Roman Clodia wrote: "What did everyone make of the title?"


Good question RC

Roman Clodia wrote: "I read the 'handful of dust' as a reminder of death, making John the pivot around which the novel turns. Still pondering this... "

I've always thought of it as a more general comment on the demise of the generation of Bright Young Things - blazing brightly for a fleeting moment, and then crashing and burning.

What's left? Just a handful of dust

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "I was reading that Waugh got frustrated with his US publishers, who wanted a new ending - having recently had the short story, "The Man Who Liked Dickens," published there. However, I do think the ..."

The edition I read has a short preface by Waugh added in 1963 - has everyone got this in their copies?

He mentions that he wrote the short story while in Brazil, and then says "A year passed. I was wintering at Fez in Morocco and there I wrote this novel, on the theme of the betrayed romantic, affording an explanation of my hero's presence in the South American bush."

I have to say, though, I agree with you, Susan, that the two sections don't really hold together, although I think they are both brilliant. They are almost like two separate novellas.

Although Waugh had the ending first and intended to create a hero who would end up there, I really can't see the Tony of the main part of the book heading off to uncharted country with a stranger.

I was excited to read the short alternative ending, written for an American magazine, included in the edition I read this time - I don't think I'd read this before, but for me it seems to complete the Tony/Brenda story better, even though the ending we have is more memorable! I don't see the alternative version as a happy ending, as it still has a nasty sting in the tail - but I'll be back to say more about this.

[Judy]

'A handful of dust' immediately made me think of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust", a reminder of death, as RC said, but it also makes me think of the house and grounds which Tony is so obsessed with.

Out of the Waugh novels I've read so far, I'd have to put Brideshead Revisited top, but this is my other favourite. I've been surprised to realise just how witty it is, with a lot of the black humour from books like The Loved One and Decline and Fall, as well as the Brideshead melancholy.

I did like Sword of Honour, which I read four years ago, but realised reading this discussion that I don't remember much about it. I will have to revisit in the future.

[Tania]

I agree. This trip was entirely out of character for the Tony we have come to know through the first part of the book. They didn't sit so well together. I haven't yet read the alternative ending.

[Roman Clodia]

I don't have either the Waugh preface (old second-hand Penguin edition) or the alternative ending - I didn't know it existed till whoever mentioned it here. I'd like to track it down though.

I agree about the oddness of Tony going off to be an explorer - he's been so safe and conventional all the way through then it suddenly seems like we've slipped into a book by Graham Greene (oh no!) or Somerset Maugham.

Fabulous ending, though!

[Susan]

Well, I guess Waugh himself decided to 'go off' on an ill-advised jaunt, which is mentioned in "Mad World." and in which the group were nearly killed by their incompetent guide. However, the trip actually reminded me more of Somerset Maugham and his travel books, with all those bizarre characters. In that sense, I agree with RC, whose comment I just noticed above!

[Judy]

RC, sorry to hear you don't have the preface or alternative ending. I had them both in a 1970s Eyre Methuen hardback from the library, and I think they are in the Kindle edition.

I just checked to see if the alternative ending was online - sadly didn't find it, but it is also in some Waugh short story collections, including Mr Loveday's Little Outing & Other Early Storiesunder the title "By Special Request", if that is any help?

Funny you should mention Graham Greene, because the trip reminded me a bit of his disastrous trip through Liberia, which he describes in Journey Without Maps. He nearly died on that journey too, according to quotes from his cousin who went with him.

I remember reading in his biography that at one stage he was planning to go on a foreign trip with Waugh, but it didn't come off - might be just as well, as they both had such terrible journeys separately.

[Susan]

I never had the alternative ending in my edition. I would quite liked to have read a 'happy' ending; even though I can't imagine it would have actually worked in the context of the book.

[Roman Clodia]

Thanks, Judy, for tracking down the alternative ending. It seems strange, that even if the ending had to be different, Waugh couldn't think of another way to finish.

Are we talking open spoilers yet?

[Judy]

I think both endings are brilliant - must say I don't think the alternative version really is a "happy" ending at all! I wouldn't want to spoil this version since some of us don't have it, but I would definitely recommend tracking it down if you can.

[Judy]

Roman Clodia wrote: "Are we talking open spoilers yet? ..."

Sorry, I just posted to say yes, but editing to say I then realised Carissa hadn't finished.

Maybe we should hold fire for a day or two?

[Judy]

Oops, but now I've noticed that Carissa said she wasn't going to read any more of this thread until she'd finished, so I was right in the first place that we should be OK with open spoilers! However, I will avoid posting any for the alternative ending.

[Susan]

Carissa, I quite agree. Waugh was quite ruthless - with himself, as well as the reader.

[Nigeyb]

I agree with what you've written there too Carissa - thanks for sharing your thoughts

[Judy]

I've just read the part about She-Evelyn in our accompanying Mad World, and looked up a review of the Philip Eade biography - posting about it in this thread because it mentions the shocking plot twist with John. It's interesting to see which elements of the story were related to Waugh's own experience:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/wha...

[Judy]

There's also an interesting article by She-Evelyn's son, former Times theatre critic Benedict Nightingale (mentioning the same plot twist) - this is behind a paywall, but if you don't have access it's possible to register to see two free articles.

He says that his mother insisted on Waugh divorcing her rather than the other way around, and then also gave evidence to a consistory court so he could get an annulment within the Catholic church.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/he...

[Susan]

It is clear that She-Evelyn did everything she could to help Waugh gain an annulment; including giving evidence in front of the court. She didn't need to do that and he was obviously grateful, referring to her as 'my poor wife,' in a letter to Nancy Mitford. He seemed to be happy in his second marriage, but I think Evelyn Gardener felt guilty for a long while.

[Judy]

I keep meaning to quote this line from the start of Waugh's 1963 preface:

"This book found favour with the critics who often date my decline from it."

Ouch. Could anyone possibly think he did have a decline (and fall?) as a writer after this one, given that Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy were still to come?

[Susan]

It was a change for him, after his comedy novels. Perhaps the critics disliked the religious references in some future novels - particularly Brideshead. As a lapsed Catholic myself, I find them interesting, but they could grate on readers/reviewers, I am sure. However, personally I would put both Brideshead and Sword of Honour above this novel, which I thought was very mixed in parts.

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "It was a change for him, after his comedy novels. Perhaps the critics disliked the religious references in some future novels - particularly Brideshead. As a lapsed Catholic myself, I find them int..."

I found this one much funnier than I'd remembered it - a lot of very cutting black humour, so I think it has quite a lot in common with books like Decline and Fall and The Loved One as well as with a more serious novel like Brideshead Revisited.

On the Catholic theme, I was interested to see hints of that in the bit where Tony meets Therese on board ship - there is a budding romance between them, but when she learns he is married in the eyes of the Church, she feels she can't have anything more to do with him.

I've only just realised this is another autobiographical element- the Wikipedia page for this novel mentions that, "Waugh's adherence to Catholic teaching on divorce caused him frustration while awaiting the possible annulment of his marriage. He had fallen in love with Teresa Jungman, a lively socialite whose Catholicism precluded any intimacy in their relationship since in the eyes of the Church Waugh remained married." Interesting that he almost used her name for this character in the book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Handf...

[Judy]

I've just watched the film, and, although I think it is very good and faithful adaptation, keeping a lot of the dialogue intact, it inevitably loses a lot. What has been cut is mainly the satirical wit, making it more serious and melancholy in the vein of the same team's Brideshead Revisited adaptation.

The film starts near the end, in South America, and then unfolds in flashback. Kristin Scott-Thomas is excellent as Brenda, and Robert Graves as Beaver, but I slightly wonder if James Wilby was too young and handsome to play Tony.

[Susan]

The more I have thought about this novel, and this was the first time I read it, the less convinced I am about the ending.

Also, I know there was a lot of dark humour, but I did feel that, overall, it was a very melancholy and sad book. There is an air of loss that lies over the whole novel. I am not sure it is one I will re-visit often, as I found it so depressing; although I am glad I finally read it.

[Nigeyb]

It certainly is dark Susan - and, I agree, not a book to revisit too regularly.


Thanks for your musings on the film Judy - I must say I am quite tempted having read your reaction

[Susan]

I think I put off reading it for ages, because I had a sense it would depress me, Nigeyb...

[Judy]

Nigeyb wrote: "Thanks for your musings on the film Judy - I must say I am quite tempted having read your reaction"

I will be interested to hear what you think if you see it, Nigeyb.

Susan, I agree there is a lot of darkness in the book, but also a lot of humour, as you say, like the vicar recycling his sermons from the First World War, which I thought was a touch of comic genius. I was glad to reread it.

[Judy]

Foxes are an image running through the book - the central fox hunt leading to the tragedy, and then the silver foxes being farmed for their fur at the end.

I thought the contrast between these was like the contrast between Hetton and the house in London being split up into little flats - expressing how the old feudal traditions that Tony clings to are being lost.

The film has a couple of shots of foxes running wild, watched by Tony and John Andrew (he is a more affectionate father in the film than in the book), and at the end I think it's suggested that the silver fox in the cage is like a double for Brenda, who is also trapped again after trying to break free.

[Susan]

Yes, the parishioners found some kind of comfort in his bizarre musings, didn't they? That seemed something that Waugh had, perhaps, experienced, it was so realistic.

[Judy]

Getting into spoilers... I don’t think the whole ending with Mr Todd is very believable in terms of Tony’s character, but I do think it’s brilliant in its own right.

From Mad World I know that Waugh’s father was a huge Dickens fan, working for his publisher. There are also similarities between Dickens and Waugh as writers in their love of black humour and two novels mentioned are very relevant, Little Dorrit with its prison theme and Martin Chuzzlewit where Martin is ill with fever and stranded abroad.

I also agree with RC’s earlier comment about how Tony’s impisonment at the end echoes Brenda’s at the start. Plus Mr Todd’s domination of the area is like a satirical portrayal of Tony’s own feudal attitudes.

[Roman Clodia]

Yes, I agree the ending feels almost surreal and yet fitting.

Don't they also read Bleak House? A description of Hetton both before and after John's death, even if Tony didn't always realise it. And another evocation of imprisonment in Lady Dedlock and Miss Flyte's birds.

I hadn't made the connection between Dicken's style and Waugh but you're absolutely right Judy.

There are also instances of reading aloud at the start: Brenda hates Tony reading (I seem to remember but may be wrong that he's too slow and lacks expression), and when she reads aloud to him, he's not listening.

[Susan]

Waugh senior made most of his money - as a publisher - through Dickens, I believe. As Evelyn found him over emotional, almost embarrassingly so, you can imagine him enjoying Dickens, who was not ashamed to try to wring the heart-strings at times!

You are right, though, that there are links with the end and Dickens. Wasn't the short story the ending was, dare I say, taken from, "The Man Who Read Dickens," or am I making that up?!

[Val]

You are not making it up Susan, that is the short story Waugh used as the ending to his book when he was not quite sure what to do with Tony's misplaced romanticism (to paraphrase Waugh's introduction in my version).

[Susan]

The phrase, 'misplaced romanticism,' does hint at Waugh's - very difficult - relationship with his father, doesn't it? Not that his father did much to gain sympathy through always, openly, preferring Alec above Evelyn. One of the reasons given in the biography I recently read, for Evelyn being such a grumpy old so and so, was his extreme reluctance to indulge in the emotional theatrics of his father.

[Judy]

RC, I had forgotten about the reading aloud at the beginning, but yes, that gives yet another ironic twist to the ending.

Great point about Bleak House. I have taken the book back to the library now, so can't check, but I think Dombey and Son may also be mentioned (or possibly just in the TV adaptation?), which has yet more thematic parallels, with the the unfaithful wife, the mouldering old-fashioned house, and the father expecting a fragile young son to live up to it all.

[Susan]

I have always struggled with Dickens. I know you love him, Judy, and it is undoubtedly my fault. Some of his novels I absolutely adore, but then I get stuck in something, like Dombey and Son, and it seems so mawkish.

There are a whole new series of Dickens versions on Audible - has anyone listened to them?

[Nigeyb]

I haven't listened to the audio versions of Dickens on Audible however, in a previous life, I did a lot of driving around the UK and I used to get CD audio books out of my local library. Each book was between 5-10 CDs.

Anyway, I listened to a lot of classics including Dickens in that manner, and a good narrator can really bring them to life.

I agree his larger books are a bit daunting but so many are just wonderful once you get into them. I think the new Audible versions sound very tempting.

[Roman Clodia]

I love Dickens, too, especially the massive later novels. Somehow the overt emotional manipulation that would make me run screaming from other authors who tried it just works with Dickens - I even sobbed through the infamous death of Little Nell! Susan, if you think Dombey is mawkish, don't even think of The Old Curiosity Shop... :)

[Lady Clementina]

I liked Dombey but found Nell a bit much- no I didn't weep (but I didn't laugh either, if that's any consolation)

[Susan]

Advice taken, thank you :)

[Suki]

I recently joined the group, and I am very late finishing Handful. I enjoyed the first part very much, there was a fair amount of sly, sarcastic humor that I really liked. I found the second part very jarring-- much like Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, where one page you're in London, and suddenly you find yourself halfway around the world, with little or no warning. As someone mentioned above, it was as if two different novellas had been crudely cobbled together. To me, Tony going to the Amazon was completely out of character for him. I would have enjoyed the Amazon experience as a separate short story, but for me it just did not fit with the tone of the first part of the book. My edition (A Handful of Dust) does not have the alternate ending, but I don't think the somewhat "happily ever after" tone works for me either.

I definitely liked Tony better than Brenda, but it was extremely sad that they both seemed to get over the loss of their child so easily-- almost literally "out of sight, out of mind", or, as Ben put it, "Poor little bastard".

I really enjoyed reading through everybody's comments on this discussion thread-- it really added a lot to the reading experience for me. This was my first time reading Waugh, and I would definitely like to read more, especially his lighter, comedic works.

[Susan]

Suki, so glad that you enjoyed your first experience of Evelyn Waugh. Thank you for your thoughts on the novel and let us know if you do decide to try any others? If you enjoyed reading with the group, perhaps you could persuade some of us into a buddy read? I personally need no excuse to read, or re-read, Waugh :)

[Nigeyb]

Thank Suki - I enjoyed reading your response. Welcome to the group.