Category Archives: Fiction

Roundup: Mostly Books

—The Times has an article describing a re-reading of Henry Green’s peculiar 1939 novel Party Going. This is by Claire Alltree and opens with this: I think of Henry Green’s 1939 novel every time I walk across Victoria station, which … Continue reading

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Two Essays: Orwell’s Comic Novels and Waugh’s Oxford

There are two well written and interesting essays this week relating to Waugh. The first is by Jonathan Clarke and appears in the quarterly City Journal. This is entitled “Orwell’s Humor” and relates mainly to his two 1930s comic novels … Continue reading

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Mid-May Roundup

—The Guardian, apparently in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the serialized publication of Waugh’s diaries, has posted a brief introduction by Chris Hall. Here’s an excerpt: The year 1973 saw a big serialisation of the private diaries of Evelyn … Continue reading

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Mother’s Day Roundup

–Nicholas Lezard writing in the New Statesman calls on Basil Seal to explain why asparagus (now coming into season in northerly climates) is the most sexy vegetable: … like all things sexy, it trembles on the edge of exploitation. In … Continue reading

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Christie’s Online Sale of Waugh Presentation Copies

Christie’s has issued a catalogue for the sale of several Waugh editions from the collection of William S Reese. Here’s the general description: The themes of Part Three of The Private Collection of William S. Reese include fine art, Yale … Continue reading

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Toffs Floribundi: Costume Drama, Oxford and Brexit

–On the occasion on the release of a new Downton Abbey film, The Times has devoted several articles to the costume drama as a genre. These begin with Robert Crampton defining the genre. From his perspective, a costume drama must … Continue reading

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May Day Roundup

–The second part of Alexander Larman’s centenary recognition of Kingsley Amis has appeared in this month’s regular issue of The Critic. See previous post. He starts with an amusing description of Amis’s somewhat ramshackle acceptance of his Booker Prize for … Continue reading

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New Academic Studies (Updated)

–The article based on a previously mentioned lecture has now been published and posted on the internet. This is entitled “Narrating Difficult Histories: Interwar Border Crossing in Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies (1930) and Christopher Isherwood’s Down There on a Visit … Continue reading

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New Brideshead Adaptation “Shelved”

According to the entertainment news website IndieWire, Luca Guadagnino has confirmed in an interview that the planned TV series remake of Brideshead Revisited has been shelved. Here’s an excerpt from the story by Samantha Bergeson: …director Guadagnino […] confirmed that … Continue reading

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Roundup: Book List and Bullingdon

–Charles Moore writing in the Daily Telegraph has a story entitled “Not even the Queen’s Jubilee is safe from BBC preaching: There are good writers all across the Commonwealth, but Auntie insists on telling us that it knows best”. He … Continue reading

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