Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited

From this volume we learn that Waugh’s father much preferred his first born son to Evelyn. He was shipped off to second-class boarding schools while his luckier brother received a premiere education. While at school, Waugh developed into a first-class bully who could use his wit, social standing, and physique to pummel the less fortunate. This behavior continued throughout his life as he ruthlessly pilloried and mocked any vulnerable target. If we were not familiar with his writing, there would surely be nothing to recommend this pretentious bigot.

Fortunately, Waugh was a gifted writer who gave us portraits of his world as seen through the lens of a less fortunate social climber. Waugh also hurried to war and was a patriot and a committed converted Catholic. This informs much of the wonderful novel Brideshead Revisited.

Although Waugh married twice, his first marriage was annulled and the second produced seven children who seem to have been pretty much ignored in favor of this writing and travels, with his wife in attendance to him. That his unwanted child, Mary, had but a brief life seems a very tragic story. Certainly Waugh’s contributions as an artist are much superior to his lauding of the upper classes and the conservative way of life.