Category Archives: Biographies

May Day Roundup

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Jeffrey Manley

–The Daily Telegraph has a preview of the upcoming BBC adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love. See previous post: THE Mitford sisters would doubtless approve. Emily Mortimer, the daughter of the novelist John Mortimer [credited with screenplay for … Continue reading →

Posted in Adaptations, Biographies, Brideshead Revisited, Letters, Newspapers, Television, The Loved One, Waugh Family | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Italian Version of A Little Learning

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Jeffrey Manley

Evelyn Waugh’s autobiography A Little Learning will come out in an Italian edition next week. This is entitled  Autobiografia di un perdigiorno (Autobiography of an Idler).  Here is a translated excerpt of a review in Il Giornali by Stenio Solinas … Continue reading →

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Election Week Roundup: A Journalistic Memoir and A Belated Review

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Jeffrey Manley

–Foreign correspondent Robert Fisk has died at the age of 74. The New York Times  describes his career in their obituary: “Robert Fisk, a dauntless journalist who was widely praised by colleagues and competitors alike for relentlessly chronicling the Middle … Continue reading →

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New Biography by Selina Hastings

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Jeffrey Manley

The latest issue of TLS has a preview from the new biography by Selina Hastings. In this, she writes of the life and works of novelist Sybille Bedford. Hastings explains in the excerpt that Bedford was raised in Germany in … Continue reading →

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New Biography of Graham Greene

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Jeffrey Manley

A new biography of Graham Greene has been published. The UK edition is entitled Russian Roulette and is written by Richard Greene (no relation but editor of a collection of Graham’s letters). The book is reviewed in the Sunday Times by … Continue reading →

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David Pryce-Jones’s Signed Books

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Jeffrey Manley

Literary critic and historian David Pryce-Jones has written another memoir. This one is called Signatures: Literary Encounters of a Lifetime and consists of 90 memoirs of the authors of books in his collection which contain their signatures. In each case … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Newspapers | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Anthropologist at the Hypocrites Club

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Jeffrey Manley

A new book surveys the professional career of E E Evans-Pritchard, a noted anthropologist who made his reputation with studies of Sudanese cultures. This biography is entitled The Anthropological Lens: A Dandy Among the Azande and is written by Christopher … Continue reading →

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Socialites to Socialists: Inez Holden and Nancy Mitford

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

Two books in the news were written by or about two of Waugh’s friends and fellow writers: Inez Holden and Nancy Mitford. As explained in reviews of those books, both progressed from upper-class to left-wing political views: –Novelist and critic … Continue reading →

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Lost Girls (More)

Posted on August 24, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

Waugh biographer Paula Byrne has reviewed DJ Taylor’s new book Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature 1939-1951. This appears in today’s Times newspaper. Byrne stresses that the book is as much or more about Cyril Connolly as it is about … Continue reading →

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Biography of a Poem: W H Auden’s “September 1, 1939”

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

The Times has a review of a new book by Ian Sansom in its “Book of the Week” column. This is a “biography” of W H Auden’s poem “September 1, 1939” soon to celebrate its 80th birthday. The review by … Continue reading →

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