A Ph.D. dissertation by Janelle Lynn Ortega entitled “‘I Heard the Same Thing Once Before’: Intertextuality in Selected Works of Evelyn Waugh” has been posted on the internet by the University of New Mexico. According to the abstract:
…This dissertation begins with an explanation of intertextual theory and the words and phrases pivotal to a cohesive understanding of these findings. It then proceeds through the works chronologically. Chapter One explores the use of Dante and Carroll in the novel Vile Bodies by explaining a deterioration of both culture and humanity while providing a remedy that is literature. Then Chapter Two’s discussion of Malory’s text within Handful of Dust rejects the initial critical reaction of associating pessimism and fatalism with the text. Chapter Three’s analysis of ‘Out of Depth’ and Love Among the Ruins uncovers an intertextual analysis concerning Huxley, Shakespeare and earlier works of Waugh himself that purports the importance of reviving literary culture and reclaiming freewill. Chapter Four recognizes that Waugh’s use of T.S. Eliot in Brideshead Revisited begins to confirm the essentiality of literature for the well-being or the individual as well as the world. The dissertation culminates in Chapter Five with The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold and its emphasis on the personal application of intertext. Ultimately this dissertation reveals that by way of intertext Evelyn Waugh subtly challenges his readers to improve themselves by looking beyond their own experiences…
The author dedicated her paper jointly to her husband and to the late John Howard Wilson, founder of the Evelyn Waugh Society and former editor of its journal. The complete text of the thesis is available in PDF format and may be downloaded without cost from this link.
