Waugh’s 1949 Minnesota Lecture

A newspaper article describing Waugh’s 1949 lecture at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been reprinted in full in the latest issue of Writing in the Margins (Spring 2015), the journal of the University’s English Department. This was written by Henry Lexau, a student at the time and later editor of the Catholic Digest, and appeared in the March 11, 1949 issue of the student paper, The Aquin. The subject of the lecture was the same as that delivered by Waugh at other venues on the 1949 lecture tour: Three Catholic Writers. The first, G.K. Chesterton, according to Waugh, “is underrated by most critics. His life presents no problems for biographers, his style is too simple for scholars to find subjects for theses.” The second writer, Ronald Knox “is essentially a scholar, shy, scrupulous, but … a great master of English prose style.” The final example, Graham Greene, is characterized by pointing out “the theological implications of his three greatest books.” The article concludes: “The lecture was provocative, the audience receptive, and Mr. Waugh witty.”

 

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