Category Archives: Biographies

Socialites to Socialists: Inez Holden and Nancy Mitford

Two books in the news were written by or about two of Waugh’s friends and fellow writers: Inez Holden and Nancy Mitford. As explained in reviews of those books, both progressed from upper-class to left-wing political views: –Novelist and critic … Continue reading

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Lost Girls (More)

Waugh biographer Paula Byrne has reviewed DJ Taylor’s new book Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature 1939-1951. This appears in today’s Times newspaper. Byrne stresses that the book is as much or more about Cyril Connolly as it is about … Continue reading

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Biography of a Poem: W H Auden’s “September 1, 1939”

The Times has a review of a new book by Ian Sansom in its “Book of the Week” column. This is a “biography” of W H Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939” soon to celebrate its 80th birthday. The review by … Continue reading

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Waugh and “Mrs Bluefeet” in New Book

The latest Literary Review has an essay by novelist and literary critic D J Taylor about what he calls “biographer’s luck”. The was inspired by his latest biography to be published next month in the UK. An American edition entitled The … Continue reading

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Bastille Day Roundup

–Veteran British actor Freddie Jones died earlier this week at the age of 91. Both the Times and the Daily Telegraph mention his portrayal of Corporal-Major Ludovic in the BBC’s 1967 three-part adaptation of Sword of Honor as his first … Continue reading

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Summer Solstice Roundup

–A new biography has been written of Lord Beaverbrook, primary model for Lord Copper in Waugh’s novel Scoop. This is reviewed by Richard Davenport-Hines in the current TLS. The review opens with this: There have been previous biographies of the … Continue reading

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Crut(t)well Redux

Duncan McLaren continues his project of including on his website essays about Waugh’s close associates. In this latest entry he traces Waugh’s relationship with his history tutor and Dean of his college C R M F Cruttwell. The first half … Continue reading

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Waugh at Campion College, Sydney

The Australian newspaper has posted an article based on the Occasional Address given by Dyson Heydon, a former High Court judge, at the recent graduation ceremony of Campion College in Sydney. He opens with this: Campion College is a small … Continue reading

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Estate of Waugh

In this week’s New Statesman, lead book reviewer Leo Robson expands his horizons to consider the question of how literary estates have affected literary history. There are four books listed as the subject of the review, but these are barely … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Alexander Waugh, Biographies, Complete Works, Evelyn Waugh, Newspapers | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

And Yet More Letters

Literary biographer Zachary Leader is interviewed on the Book Marks page of the Literary Hub website. The second volume of his biography of Saul Bellow is published this week, and he has written the biography and edited the letters of Kingsley … Continue reading

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