Author Archives: Jeffrey Manley

Happy New Year and Welcome to Public Domain

Several papers have been carrying the story on books to be released today (1 January 2026) from copyright publishing restrictions and into the public domain. Among these, Waugh’s Vile Bodies has been prominently mentioned. It was published as his second … Continue reading

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Christmas Greetings from EWS

–Christmas was not a particularly happy time for the adult Evelyn Waugh, if only because his children were home from school. Here’s an example posted on a Substack.com website by Paul Fishman. This is taken from Waugh’s diaries (p. 668): … Continue reading

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John Carey: b. 5 April 1935, d. 11 December 2025: R.I.P.

John Carey, former Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford and one of his generation’s most noted literary critics, died last week at the age of 92. His obituary appeared, inter alia, in the Guardian, The Times and the Daily … Continue reading

Posted in Auberon Waugh, Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, Newspapers, Obituaries, Oxford | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Mid-December Roundup

–Charles Moore writes in the Daily Telegraph a critique of the newly issued US National Security Strategy. The article is entitled “Civilisation erasure is real, but Donald Trump is part of the problem,” and opens with this: Amid stiff competition … Continue reading

Posted in Auberon Waugh, Biographies, Brideshead Revisited, Conferences, Decline and Fall, Men at Arms, Newspapers, Scoop | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Advent-tide Roundup

—The Times has the review (dated 2 Dec.) of a book by Waugh biographer Paula Byrne that may be of interest. Here are the opening paragraphs: In Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder remarks that Catholics appear “just like other people”. He is … Continue reading

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Early December Roundup

–The Sydney Morning Herald reviews Salman Rushdie’s latest book (probably referring to The Eleventh Hour). The review is by Australian literary critic Peter Craven and is headed: “Unsurprisingly, death is a recurring theme in Salman Rushdie.” It contains some mention … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving (USA) Roundup

–The New York Review of Books has reviewed a book by Kit Kowol entitled Blue Jerusalem. The review by Ferdinand Mount is entitled “Flipping Britain’s Postwar Script.” Here’s the opening: Controlling the narrative is the name of the game now. … Continue reading

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David Pryce-Jones (1936-2025) R.I.P.

The death earlier this week of writer and journalist David Pryce-Jones has been announced in the Peerage News. He is best known to our readers as the editor of the 1973 collection Evelyn Waugh and His World. This is noted … Continue reading

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Converts, Universities and an Anniversary

–A review by Frances Wilson in The Spectator discusses a recent book by Melanie McDonagh. This is entitled Converts. It may have been mentioned in previous postings. Here is an excerpt from the opening paragraphs: …The 12 conversions explored by … Continue reading

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Armistice Day Roundup

–In a recent issue of Irish Times, Waugh came up in multiple stories. In a review of Elizabeth Day’s novel One of Us, the Times’ reviewer begins by noting that she …deploys one of fiction’s most reliable formulas. It is … Continue reading

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