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Product Description
Product Description
Sent down from Oxford in outrageous circumstances, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly surprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, rascals and fools, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and Captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze. As the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe, least of all Paul.
About the Author
Evelyn Waugh was born in 1903 and was educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). In 1945 he published Brideshead Revisited and he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1952 for Men at Arms. Evelyn Waugh died in 1966.
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First Sentence
'I think you ought to find some work,' said his guardian thoughtfully. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
'I think you ought to find some work,' said his guardian thoughtfully. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic,
This review is from: Decline and Fall (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
This is one of the books that made me love english litterature. It is so wonderfully absurd and at the same time accurate in it's description of british society and education around 1930. When I sometime tires of Wodehouse and the constant mix-ups of his (otherwise wonderful) tales about Jeeves & Wooster, Psmith or Blandings Castle, Waugh is my choice. It is down to earth, but extremely funny. Young man Pennyfeather is expelled from Oxford due, through no fault of his own, to indecent behaviour. He becomes schoolmaster at a school in Wales which, frankly, is not very good. He falls in love, and the rest of the plot is for you to find out. I can tell you, however, that in this book Waugh covers so diverse subjects as prisons, religion, education, architecture (at this point, one might rightly wonder if it's Bentham I'm reviewing instead of Waugh, but no!), glamour, greed, insanity, worldwide cooperation, Welsh music, teenage boys and alcohol. And even if you like or dislike some, or most of these things, Waugh makes them seem so absurd that you can't help but smile at his descriptions of everyday life in those very specific circles. Go on and read it - it's cheap, it's a classic and it is one of the most entertaining and clever books I've ever read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
earliest and best,
By
This review is from: Decline and Fall (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Evelyn Waugh was for a long time my favourite writer and I still think this [early] book is his best. The taut, brittle humour is consistent from beginning to end, and the pace never lets up.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read,
By
This review is from: Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Put out More Flags (Hardcover)
This is a book I read many years ago and was inspired to take up again following the BBC’s Big Read quest; in this they included others of Evelyn Waugh’s works but overlooked this gem. The tale follows the hilarious misadventures of one Paul Pennyfeather. Sent down from Oxford though no fault of his own, Pennyfeather begins his decline and eventual fall in to the depths, encountering along the way a series of incredible characters and unbelievable situations ranging from murder to white slavery but somehow throughout it all seeming to retain his innocence. Despite being written in 1928 Waugh’s writing still remains fresh and his wit sparkling. A truly clever and very funny book.
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