This is a biography of Evelyn Waugh. 'Be assured that you would be unlikely to find a more entertaining, delightful or rewarding book on Waugh if you were to search...or the next twenty years. The narrative is at once gripping and thoughtful on every page.' - "Mail On Sunday". 'A brilliant, three-dimensional portrait.' - "Country Life".
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‘...gripping and thoughtful on every page.’ -- Mail On Sunday
‘A brilliant, three-dimensional portrait’ -- Country Life
‘Evelyn Waugh was one of the funniest writers in the language. Selina Hastings’s book is alive with his humour’ -- Sunday Express
‘Her style is supremely elegant and her eye for detail brings dazzle and wit to every page…This is a monumental book’ -- Independent on Sunday
‘Perceptive, witty and beautifully written’ -- Daily Mail
‘A brilliant, three-dimensional portrait’ -- Country Life
‘Evelyn Waugh was one of the funniest writers in the language. Selina Hastings’s book is alive with his humour’ -- Sunday Express
‘Her style is supremely elegant and her eye for detail brings dazzle and wit to every page…This is a monumental book’ -- Independent on Sunday
‘Perceptive, witty and beautifully written’ -- Daily Mail
From the Publisher
‘Evelyn Waugh was the most complicated of men…It is the first great virtue of Selina Hastings’s splendid biography that she never forgets it. Consequently she has written a sympathetic and highly intelligent book which also – rarity of rarities these days – reads rapidly. It is sympathetic also because, like Waugh himself, the author adores gossip.’Daily Telegraph
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
My introduction to Evelyn Waugh came when I had to read 'A Handful of Dust' for my English Lit 'A' level, well over thirty years ago. That intro led me to read all of his novels and most of his short stories. He was a brilliant chronicler of the British upper middle classes and minor aristocracy in the inter-war years, and reading this biography brilliantly illuminates the background to his novels, the real-life basis for some of his most memorable characters, and the events which informed much of his fiction. Selina Hastings manages to tell Waugh's story with a real lightness of touch that still manages to convey the weight and importance of Waugh's work. he doesn't always come across as a very likeable person, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; Hastings reveals the at times ugly truth of Waugh's character whilst telling the story with wit, warmth and charm, and the cumulative effect is all the more potent as a result. It never gets bogged down, is never 'worthy', frequently salacious, and always a delight. And it makes you want to go back to Waugh's novels with a renewed vigour, matching the real life characters to their fictional counterparts - sometimes they're elisions of the two, but the important thing is the real regard that Hastings obviously holds Waugh's work. If you have any interest in Waugh's work, do yourself a favour and buy this book - it does not disappoint.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By John Davison
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am reading this book for the second time, and have been trying to work out why reading Selina Hastings is such unalloyed pleasure.
I got a clearer idea when I picked up a book by another writer I had ordered and skimmed a few pages, only to be hit by a familiar weariness.
Too many writers in English fall into one of two categories: their style is too academic or too informal. In both situations the reader is aware of the writer as an uncomfortable presence.
Selina Hastings' writing is absolutely clear: she never uses a difficult word when a simple one will do the job better; it is absolutely graceful: she is incapable of either pretentiousness or vulgarity; she is sometimes laugh-aloud funny, and she is always amusing.
One of her great gifts is to present a short account of each of Waugh's books which such economy and clarity that she arouses one's interest whether one knows the book inside out or has never read it.
Above all, and what a relief this is, she is non-judgmental. She presents her subjects exactly as she finds them, and yet manages to make them lovable. This is particularly useful here, because, as she states in the opening chapter:
"The reputation of Evelyn Waugh rests on two premises: that he was one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century, and that as a man he was a monster."
I got a clearer idea when I picked up a book by another writer I had ordered and skimmed a few pages, only to be hit by a familiar weariness.
Too many writers in English fall into one of two categories: their style is too academic or too informal. In both situations the reader is aware of the writer as an uncomfortable presence.
Selina Hastings' writing is absolutely clear: she never uses a difficult word when a simple one will do the job better; it is absolutely graceful: she is incapable of either pretentiousness or vulgarity; she is sometimes laugh-aloud funny, and she is always amusing.
One of her great gifts is to present a short account of each of Waugh's books which such economy and clarity that she arouses one's interest whether one knows the book inside out or has never read it.
Above all, and what a relief this is, she is non-judgmental. She presents her subjects exactly as she finds them, and yet manages to make them lovable. This is particularly useful here, because, as she states in the opening chapter:
"The reputation of Evelyn Waugh rests on two premises: that he was one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century, and that as a man he was a monster."
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Here is a rare combination: a fascinating subject and a beautifully written book.
Even if you know Waugh and his work only vaguely, there will be much here to keep you occupied. Equally, if you are familiar with the great man's opus then this biography will help explain his peculiarly autobiographical novels.
This is a wonderful book.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Cliff
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very interesting and detailed book by an author who is no fool, tracing EW's life and his forebears and giving great insight into both. Her observations on his decline into old age and his inability to come to terms with modern life are particularly poignant.
11 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
One of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. Incredibly well researched.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Warning: this review contains spoilers.
It is a credit to Selina Hastings' skill as a biographer that she manages to write such an absorbing and interesting account of a man as obnoxious as Evelyn Waugh.
Waugh had no redeeming features. He used his obstreperousness and rudeness to get out of things he didn't want to do; he did no work at university; he was disliked by the soldiers under his command; he was a bully who tried to persuade his friends to convert to Roman Catholicism; he was a demanding perfectionist - one of his most ludicrous requests was that there should be two salt cellars on the table when more than four people were dining. He drank heavily and frequently complained of being bored.
One of the saddest characters in Waugh's life was his second wife, Laura, who comes over as a mere cipher. Hastings gives the impression that Waugh's main role as husband was to make Laura pregnant (they had six children) and then return to his club in London to resume his boozy lifestyle.
And yet, he had a natural facility for writing and produced a number of novels which are still highly regarded today. He was a meticulous craftsman with a sensitivity to language and the placing of words in a sentence. He also believed it was "essential to have a thorough understanding of the rules of grammar". His star waned in the 1950s and 1960s when he came to be regarded as an old-fashioned writer.
He was able to turn his hand to writing articles and features on demand, which was a necessity for him as he was always short of money. There was a ready market for such work in the days when more magazines were published and Waugh made good use of such opportunities.
His death occurred when he collapsed in a lavatory. A fitting end, somehow.... Read more ›
It is a credit to Selina Hastings' skill as a biographer that she manages to write such an absorbing and interesting account of a man as obnoxious as Evelyn Waugh.
Waugh had no redeeming features. He used his obstreperousness and rudeness to get out of things he didn't want to do; he did no work at university; he was disliked by the soldiers under his command; he was a bully who tried to persuade his friends to convert to Roman Catholicism; he was a demanding perfectionist - one of his most ludicrous requests was that there should be two salt cellars on the table when more than four people were dining. He drank heavily and frequently complained of being bored.
One of the saddest characters in Waugh's life was his second wife, Laura, who comes over as a mere cipher. Hastings gives the impression that Waugh's main role as husband was to make Laura pregnant (they had six children) and then return to his club in London to resume his boozy lifestyle.
And yet, he had a natural facility for writing and produced a number of novels which are still highly regarded today. He was a meticulous craftsman with a sensitivity to language and the placing of words in a sentence. He also believed it was "essential to have a thorough understanding of the rules of grammar". His star waned in the 1950s and 1960s when he came to be regarded as an old-fashioned writer.
He was able to turn his hand to writing articles and features on demand, which was a necessity for him as he was always short of money. There was a ready market for such work in the days when more magazines were published and Waugh made good use of such opportunities.
His death occurred when he collapsed in a lavatory. A fitting end, somehow.... Read more ›
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