Category Archives: Letters

Waugh and Psychedelia

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

This week’s Spectator reviews a book by Rob Chapman about the history of psychedelic drugs. The title is Psychedelia and Other Colours . The book includes a consideration of the contribution made by novelist Aldous Huxley to the popularization of drugs … Continue reading →

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Waugh on Politics

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Athough Evelyn Waugh professed no interest in party politics and asserted that he never voted, he has been cited several times recently in political articles. In a Weekly Standard article earlier this month on the unfortunate politics of the British Royal family … Continue reading →

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Waugh Letter Read on Video by Geoffrey Palmer

Posted on August 1, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Waugh’s 1942 letter to his wife recounting the Commando’s farcical attempt to remove a tree stump from the estate of an aristocrat near their training base in Scotland is read out to great humorous effect by TV actor Geoffrey Palmer. … Continue reading →

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Max and Diana

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Many of our readers will be familiar with the story of how Waugh’s friend Diana Mosley (nee Mitford) and her husband Sir Oswald Mosley (leader of the British Fascist party) were imprisoned in 1940. Diana had, a few weeks before entering prison, given … Continue reading →

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Robert Byron, Dangerous Lunatic

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The latest edition of the Australian Financial Review contains a story by Nick Hordern about Robert Byron, an outstanding British travel writer of the 1930s. The focus of the article is Byron’s book The Road to Oxiana which several critics have acclaimed … Continue reading →

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Waugh Letter a Hit at Hay Festival

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

At this year’s Hay Festival, there was the repeat of of an event from previous years where letters from noteworthy persons of the past are read aloud by their counterparts of the present. The event is called “Letters Live” and has … Continue reading →

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Mrs. Stitch in the NYRB

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

This week’s New York Review of Books (June 4) has a retrospective article (“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”) by Robert Gottlieb  on the life of Evelyn Waugh’s good friend, Diana Cooper. The occasion for the article is the … Continue reading →

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“That Tipsy Don”: Sir Raymond Carr (1919-2015)

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

In an obituary last week, the Daily Telegraph announced the death of Sir Raymond Carr, Professor of History and Warden of St. Antony’s College at Oxford. His special area of study was Spain, and he is said to have been to … Continue reading →

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Times Diary Reports Waugh Advice on Letters to America

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Patrick Kidd in today’s Times Diary reports a talk given at last week’s Waugh conference in Leicester by biographer Selina Hastings: Waugh’s correspondence with Nancy Mitford, included advice on how he dealt with fan mail. Some (university clubs, creative-writing students, … Continue reading →

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The Loved One Added to Recommended Books about L.A.

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Last month the Guardian issued another in its series of book recommendations about U.S. cities. This one related to books about Los Angeles. Others have dealt with San Francisco and New Orleans. The original L.A. list contained no books by … Continue reading →

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