End-of-Month Roundup

—The Modernist Review has posted an article relating to Auberon Waugh’s 1917 book Loom of Youth in which he described his school days at Sherborne. The book is well known among Evelyn Waugh enthusiasts because it resulted in Evelyn’s  being barred from admission at his preferred boarding school, Sherborne. It also resulted in a little known law suit several years later in 1932 as is explained in the opening paragraphs of the Modernist Review article by Thomas Bate entitled “Loom and Doom: New Light on the Waugh v. Lewis Libel Action.”

One could hardly imagine two more different works than The Loom of Youth (1917) and Doom of Youth (1932). The former, the first novel of Alec Waugh (elder brother of Evelyn), was a boy’s account of a boys’ school, which became controversial principally because of a brief passage suggesting homosexuality in the dormitories. Published when Waugh was barely 21, The Loom of Youth drew directly from his experiences at Sherborne School, from which he had been expelled — a circumstance that would later prompt his parents to send his younger brother Evelyn to Lancing College instead. The novel’s frank portrayal of public school life, with its hints at same-sex relationships among the boys, caused a sensation and marked Alec Waugh as a voice of his generation’s disillusionment with traditional institutions.

The latter publication, by the vituperative writer and painter Wyndham Lewis, was a savage satirical assault on what he perceived as the shallow hedonism and intellectual bankruptcy of post-war youth culture. Published in 1932, Doom of Youth represented Lewis at his most provocative and combative, railing against the very generation that [Auberon] Waugh had seemed to champion. Where Waugh’s novel had been sympathetic to the struggles of young men coming of age in oppressive institutional settings, Lewis’s polemic was a sustained attack on youth itself as a cultural phenomenon, dismissing the concerns and perspectives of the younger generation as fundamentally worthless.

But Lewis’s provocative choice of title was clearly aimed at Waugh’s earlier success, a deliberate echo designed to position his own work as a riposte to The Loom of Youth. The similarity was no accident — Lewis, ever the polemicist, had crafted his title as both homage and hostile takeover, suggesting that he was the corrective for the Waugh brothers’ obsession with youth culture. This calculated provocation would prove to be more costly than Lewis anticipated…

The resulting litigation over the Lewis book is described in the article which is available at this link.

–Hungarian academic Ferenc Hörcher has posted a copy of his 2022 article on Waugh’s war trilogy. This was originally published in Hungarian Review and is entitled “History and Grace: Anti-communism in Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour.” Here is an excerpt from the opening paragraphs:

“Sword of Honour, written during the Cold War (1952–1961), was meant to provide
a general account of British participation in the Second World War, with an eye
to its aftermath, since the global conflict was widely seen as having strengthened
communist Russia. Its author, a popular writer of the age, was himself a traditional
Conservative who was nevertheless an ardent critic of the British prime minister
and wartime leader, Winston Churchill. Waugh participated in the war, and his
experiences led him to a pessimistic view of the leadership of the British Army,
and in particular of British participation in the Balkans. He did not agree with
the shift of British support from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Tito’s partisans
in the war’s final stage. His critical attitude towards the British war effort led
him to write a report directly to the government, and his literary efforts to record
what happened there included—beside the later Sword of Honour—an earlier short
story entitled Compassion.”

The full article is available for download here.

—The Oldie has posted an article by Ferdinand Mount on the career of artist Henry Lamb. He is well known to Waugh’s readers as the artist who painted Waugh’s portrait at age 26 which adorns the cover of the 1973 collection, Evelyn Waugh and his World. Mount’s article is inspired by an exhibit of Lamb’s work that also includes a portrait of Mount. The exhibit recently opened in Salisbury. Here’s a description:

A new show, Bloomsbury in Wiltshire, (Saturday May 23 – Sunday September 27, 2026) features the work of artist Henry Lamb. Lamb drew – and romanced – the Bloomsbury Group, fought in the First World War and, in 1957, painted his 18-year-old nephew, Ferdinand Mount

Whether the earlier Waugh portrait is included in the exhibition is not stated in either The Oldie’s article or the exhibition gallery’s description (see link). The exhibition is in the Salisbury Museum in Wiltshire.

–The Daily Express has an article by Molly Toolan declaring that the 1981 TV adaptation by ITV of Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited is recognized as the best adaptation of all time. Here are some excerpts:

Period drama, released in 1981, Brideshead Revisited was the choice of Lit Hub in its The 50 Greatest Literary TV Adaptations Ever Ranking. The TV series was adapted from Evelyn Waugh’s novel of the same name. Derek Granger created the series that stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews…

The series has been hailed by many fans and critics, and publications, with Time magazine listing it in its list of the 100 best TV shows of all time. It has received 83% from both the critics and the fans on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Probably the best TV adaptation of all time,” said one fan of the series.

Another fan wrote in their review: “A brilliant adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel with exceptional performances by all, especially Jeremy Irons. One of the most memorable productions in any film format I’ve ever seen.”