The Letters of Evelyn Waugh

by Mark (editor) AMORY, Mark Amory (Editor)

Unlike the diaries, which were scribbled hastily at night, the letters, over 300 of them, were written and designed to entertain and amuse his many friends. The letters are annotated and a number of replies are included.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Literature

664 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

Years ago I wanted to see through different eyes, so I picked some men and read everything by them and about them. Evelyn Waugh I picked because he seemed to have a mind utterly alien to me in just about all ways--except that he deeply loved literature, and beautiful things, especially beautiful editions of books. We connected there.

I discovered a complex individual whose weakness was not loving other men (he managed to shove that down below the surface and keep it there after he left Oxford) but his intense desire to be an aristocrat. His letters to his toff friends have a tone that is utterly unlike his other letters, it's sort of arch, full of irreverence and in jokes, but this undertone of performing to be interesting, and yet demanding to be taken seriously. It's the oddest thing, and maybe only in my own eyes.

Anyway, I read this in conjunction with his diaries (he is one of the rare ones who kept a diary during his boarding school years, and what a goldmine that is!) and a couple of biographies once every ten years or so.

[Cocaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the early part of this book rather stagnant. Waugh comes across within his letters as immature. He seems to settle into a stereotype of what every young undergraduate from the upper middle class should act like - boorish. It isn't until we reach the Second World War when he writes his letters to wife Laura, that we start to see more of what the man was really like. Glimpses only I suspect but a character even then with strong principles. Waugh was very much of the society he came from. His turn to Roman Catholicism was total. He was a devout Christian but also an awful snob. Mark Amory's selection of letters, his choices, are good. They truly give indication of what the man was like and he, the editor, does not correct Waugh's poor spelling but leaves in all as was. For me there are no surprises. Waugh was precisely what you would expect. For me his short story, obviously not shown here, 'Mister Lovedays Little Outing' is among the very best short stories I have read. This though, this book, does not sparkle as i hoped it might.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I kept this book next to my bed for many years, opening it at random (after having read it cover to cover, of course) for reflection and laughs. One of my very favorite books.

[Pumblechookian Elbow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blind date that went remarkably well.

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit difficult at first as the letters in his twenties very childish, more interesting as he matured
Main problem was the references to friends and acquaintances and trying to remember everyone but very interesting for anyone who has read his books

[Joel Zartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a certain sadness about working through a long collection of a person's letters when the end comes. Waugh was not a nice person, and for that reason a most interesting one.

[Chels S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out liking him but within twenty pages I grew to hate him and everyone he knew.

[Janet Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight to read. Never gets boring.

[Barbara Mader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really should rate it four stars, but found Waugh rather horrible after a while. Excellent writing, of course, and sometimes terribly funny, but oh! What a terrible, smug little snob he was. Fascinating look at the time. Prefer his collected correspondence w/ Nancy Mitford as her letters leaven his.

[Lady R.E. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I did not know it was possible to be so miserable and live, but I am told that this is a common experience."

[Jaylia3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got interested in Waugh through reading about his friend and correspondent Nancy Mitford. He's a hard guy to like, but he's smart and he had a lot of fascinating friends and acquaintances.

[Erik]

Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Chapter 14, as one of Eight Collections of Essays and Letters Not To Be Missed.

[Jesse]

khfahahahah aqman i dotn like u ahhaha

[Adam DeVille, Ph.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are must-reads for Waugh fans. He takes letter-writing to a whole new height of hilarity, scathing commentary, joking, and much else. Addictive reading.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable in their breadth and wit; frustrating in their prejudice but without the prejudice, waugh would not have been Waugh