Category Archives: Fiction

Roundup: Fleabag and Brexit

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

—The Times earlier this week carried a review of an ongoing BBC TV series called Fleabag, currently in its 2nd season. The review by Ann Marie Hourihane opens with this: God is what you’ve got left when you’re done with sex; … Continue reading →

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Last Orders at Mrs Roberts’

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

The Daily Mail reports that a Waugh landmark in North Wales is about to disappear. This is the Fair View Inn in Llanddulas which was the model for the pub in Llanabba run by Mrs Roberts (but never otherwise identified … Continue reading →

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Literary Chagford

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

The following paragraphs open a recent story in The Moorlander, a local Dartmoor area newspaper: Chagword, Dartmoor’s Literary Festival, [was held last] weekend with big named authors coming to the festival in Chagford, but literary links go much further back, … Continue reading →

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Roundup: Party Fiction and Personal Libraries

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

–The National Review has published a symposium on the subject of personal libraries in which participants explain the pleasure and burden they impose. Here’s the contribution of American literary critic Terry Teachout: My Manhattan apartment contains a thousand-odd books, but … Continue reading →

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Evelyn Waugh: The Restless Years

Posted on March 21, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

Duncan McLaren has embarked on a new chapter in his online history of Waugh. This is the period of 1930-37 between the breakup of his first marriage and the celebration of his second. He has posted the first installment, as … Continue reading →

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Roundup: “The Death of a Modern Churchman”

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

–A literary website that encourages new writers (Culturedvultures.com) has posted a list of the 10 most absurd deaths in classic fiction. Among those selected is the death of Mr Prendergast in Waugh’s novel Decline and Fall: 8. DEATH BY SAW AND … Continue reading →

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Norman Douglas: Forgotten Author?

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

An article about writer Norman Douglas (noted pedophile) has been inspired by the flurry of activity stirred up by a recent HBO documentary about the posthumous reputation of the singer Michael Jackson. This is by the author of a forthcoming … Continue reading →

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A Visit to the Disneyland of Death

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

An essay is posted on the website Hazlitt.net describing the visit of writer Larissa Diakiv to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA. The website is described as “a home for writers and artists to tell the best stories about … Continue reading →

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Roundup: Laura Waugh’s Lent

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

–In the Guardian, William Keegan compares the Brexit chaos to Waugh’s Decline and Fall: In order to switch off from Brexit in the evenings, your correspondent has taken to re-reading his favourite novels. Yet there is no escape! At the … Continue reading →

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New French Edition of POMF Reviewed

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Jeffrey Manley

The Paris newspaper Liberation has published a detailed review of the new French edition of Put Out Out More Flags (Hissez le grand pavois; literally “Hoist the great bulwark”). This is by Philippe Garnier who begins by explaining that the … Continue reading →

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