Author Archives: Jeffrey Manley

BBC Documentary on Waugh’s Illustrator

The BBC has broadcast a delightful documentary on Quentin Blake, artist and illustrator. This is entitled Quentin Blake: The Drawing of My Life and debuted on Christmas Day on BBC2. It will be repeated on 6 January. Here’s an excerpt … Continue reading

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Boxing Day Roundup

–Penguin have announced the issuance of a new edition of Waugh’s first book Rossetti: His Life and Work. This will be in the Penguin Modern Classics series and will be issued in the UK in April 2022. It will be … Continue reading

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Joan Didion (1934-2021) R. I. P.

American novelist, essayist and journalist Joan Didion (1934-2021) died earlier this week in New York City at the age of 87. A memorial column in the National Review remembers her as an early contributor to their pages in what was … Continue reading

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Waugh’s Christmas 1946

Waugh records in his Diaries 75 years ago his rather downbeat experience of the second Christmas in the postwar Atlee era. His feelings may resonate with many of us who are experiencing our second Christmas in the Age of Covid: … Continue reading

Posted in Diaries, Evelyn Waugh | 4 Comments

Winter Solstice Roundup

–The website Arab News has an article by James Drummond about how Armenians have succeeded as businessmen in many Arab countries. Here is one example: Armenians were famous builders. Indeed, Sinan Pasha, the great architect of the Ottoman Empire, was … Continue reading

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When the Going Was Good @ 75

Waugh’s collection of travel writings from the 1930s was published in the UK 75 years ago today. This was entitled When the Going Was Good. US publication followed in January 1947.  This was has first book to be published after … Continue reading

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Pre-Christmas Roundup

—The Times reports a recent interview of Nicholas Howard, current resident of Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. The interview, conducted and reported by Helen Rumbelow, opens with a discussion of the shortfall in revenue caused by the recent Covid-related closures … Continue reading

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Roundup: Flaubert’s Birth and Hitchens’ Death

–Novelist Julian Barnes has written a rambling retrospective of Flaubert’s career covering all of his books and many of his own and Flaubert’s obsessions. This is on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Flaubert’s birth and is published in … Continue reading

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Evelyn Waugh Studies 52.2 (Fall 2021)

The latest issue of the Society’s journal, Evelyn Waugh Studies, has been distributed to the membership. This is issue Ne. 52.2 (Fall 2021). A slightly edited summary  by the Society’s Secretary, Jamie Collinson, that accompanied the distribution, is set forth … Continue reading

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Post-Thanksgiving Roundup

–10 December will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Christopher Hitchens. This is commemorated in the Financial Times by an article entitled “The World Christopher Hitchens Left Behind”. This is by Janan Ganash who might have used as … Continue reading

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Catholicism, Decline and Fall, Helena, Lectures, Newspapers, Oxford, The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Post-Thanksgiving Roundup