The Liverpool University Press has announced the issuance of the paperback edition of the book Evelyn Waugh (Writers and their Work). This is by Ann Pasternak Slater and was originally published in a hardback edition in 2016. It was then reviewed in Evelyn Waugh Studies 47.2 (Autumn 2016) by Chip Long where he described it as:
…a reader’s book. That is, it performs criticism as an act of companionship between its author and her audience that will not only be welcomed by new students of Waugh but also be compelling to those already familiar with his work. Readers and reading are taken seriously and encouraged. It is a book of deep yet unobtrusive learning and literary sensibility that makes nuanced use of other authors (Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, D.H. Lawrence) and other texts. Discussions are always grounded firmly in the fiction itself; APS concentrates on words and sentences with an intense clarity that makes her reader want to return to the source straightaway. (I mean this as a compliment: in response to her chapters on Decline and Fall and Black Mischief, I re-read the novels with new pleasure before moving on to the treatments of Vile Bodies and A Handful of Dust respectively.) As with any salutary companion, it’s possible to maintain a leisurely pace in order to appreciate the conversation. And perhaps that’s the metaphor to explain the book’s success. I felt as if I was observing APS orchestrate a series of conversations – among Waugh’s books; between his biography and corollary texts (e.g., letters, diaries, and autograph manuscripts) and the fiction; between APS and other critics; and, most importantly between APS and her reader – designed to highlight “Waugh’s intellectual coherence” (73) and consistent moral seriousness.
The paperback is available from Amazon.com at this link for $29.95; it is temporarily out of stock but orders are now being taken. It will be available from the publisher in the UK later this month for £16.99.
UPDATE (1 January 2019): There is considerable confusion about the publication date for the paperback edition of this book. It is now listed on the OUP internet site as 1 February 2019. (OUP is the US distributor.) Further updates will be posted when matters clarify.
UPDATE 2 (30 January 2019): The OUP in the USA is now filling orders for the paperback edition of the book. No so, Amazon.com, however.
