This month will see Waugh’s biographer Martin Stannard lecture in Oxford and the BBC’s film of Decline and Fall previewed in Cardiff:
Campion Hall in Oxford will host a lecture by Prof Martin Stannard entitled “No Abiding City: Evelyn Waugh and America”. Stannard, who teaches at the University of Leicester, wrote the standard two-volume biography of Waugh and is currently heading the Complete Works of Waugh project to be published by the Oxford University Press. Waugh was an early supporter of Campion Hall which is under the direction of the Jesuit Order.  He assigned the royalties of his 1935 biography of Edmund Campion to the college. The lecture is additionally supported by the Anthony Burgess Foundation which is  this year celebrating the centenary of its founder, an admirer of Waugh’s work. See previous post. The lecture will be given on Friday, 3 March at 530 pm and a reception will follow. The details are available from Campion Hall’s website. Here is some additional information from that website:
The writer Evelyn Waugh is famous for many reasons: A sparkling wit, an acerbic tongue, a prolific literary output. Especially in Oxford, Waugh’s ghost is never far away. And thanks in part to a deep friendship with former Campion Master Martin D’Arcy, SJ, Waugh’s relationship to this Hall in particular was always strong. The British author’s relationship to America was decidedly more ambivalent. Though he lampooned many American traits in novels such as The Loved One, Waugh nevertheless came away from his visits to America impressed by the country’s religious sensibilities.
Also recently announced is a preview screening of the BBC’s production of Waugh’s first novel Decline and Fall. This will take place at Cineworld, Cardiff on Monday, 20 March at 630pm. The film was adapted by James Wood who also wrote the series Rev. The production is by Tiger Aspect Drama and Cave Bear Productions and was supported by the Welsh Government’s Wales Screen Fund. Parts of it were filmed in Cardiff. A Q&A will fillow the screening. Details are available from BAFTA Cymru.
