The latest edition of the Society’s journal Evelyn Waugh Studies has been distributed. Here is the message of the Society’s Secretary Jamie Collinson that accompanied the distribution:
The latest Evelyn Waugh Studies – edition 55.3 – is ready for your reading pleasure. It’s a short but very sweet issue, featuring two subjects close to my heart.
The first is a bit of an EWS scoop relating to Waugh’s military service. Last year, we were contacted by the daughter of Major “Harry” Vere Holden White, who had written an as yet unpublished memoir entitled A Memoir of Commando Life. A chapter in the memoir features a suitably (and touchingly) funny Waugh incident. We think you’ll find it of great interest.
Secondly, Jeffrey Manley reviews the latest edition of the Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh: The Loved One, edited by Adrian Poole. This is one of my favourite of Waugh’s novels, not least at it was inspired by Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, very close to where I live in LA. As many of you will know, when Waugh visited LA to discuss a proposed film adaptation of Brideshead, he quickly thwarted the idea by insisting it must be black and white, and instead spent much of his time at Forest Lawn, which fascinated him. He said it was “the only thing in California that is not a copy of something else.”
Jeffrey discusses some fascinating detective work on tracking down a review by Waugh’s on-and-off friend and contemporary, Peter Quennell, which in turn features an appearance by the brilliant, maverick Waugh scholar Duncan McLaren.
In the news section, there’s a link to a very amusing, Waugh-related piece on the comically awful journalist Taylor Lorenz, and to Jonathan Coe’s Guardian article remembering the EWS’ Honorary President, novelist David Lodge.
Thanks as ever to Yuexi Liu and Jonathan Pitcher for editing the issue. We hope you enjoy it!
