Category Archives: Non-fiction

New Book About Early Waugh Love Interest

A new book has appeared featuring one of Waugh’s love interests of the 1930s. This is entitled The Many Lives and Loves of Hazel Lavery and is described on its cover as a Novel. Here’s an excerpt from a review … Continue reading

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Roundup: Renewed Interest in Rosemary Tonks

–The London Review of Books reviews the reprints of three of the later novels by poet-novelist Rosemary Tonks. She wrote during the period 1963-1980.  After a rather difficult life, she stopped writing in 1980 to become a fundamentalist Christian, dying … Continue reading

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New Year’s Roundup

–Writing in The Spectator, Druin Burch reviews the press coverage of the Lucy Letby case (recently convicted of murdering babies in her care) and recalls the case of an earlier nurse (Benjamin Geen) who was also convicted of murder. The … Continue reading

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Advent Roundup

–D J Taylor has written a thoughtful essay on the current status of literary biography. This is posted in The Critic Magazine. Here are the introductory paragraphs: Q. Who, just under a century ago, wrote the following, and about whom? … Continue reading

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Roundup: From Arcadia to Bohemia

—The Irish Rover, a newspaper sponsored by University of Notre Dame (in Indiana, not Ireland), has posted a brief article on the origins of “Arcadia”. This is by Santiago Legarre who is a visiting professor at the Notre Dame Law … Continue reading

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Waugh in Italian

The announcement of an Italian translation of Waugh’s final travel book has appeared in at least two Italian papers. This is A Tourist in Africa (Un Turista in Africa) published by Aldelphi Edizioni. Here’s a translated excerpt of the review … Continue reading

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Three Views of Haile Selassie

The British magazine History Today has posted on the internet the full text of its 2015 feature-length article, now entitled “In The Court of Haile Selassie.” This is by literary biographer and critic Jeffrey Meyers and tells the story of … Continue reading

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Centenary of Waugh’s Coming of Age: 28 October 1924

Today marks the centenary of Evelyn Waugh’s coming of age on 28 October 1924, his 21st birthday. In Waugh’s diary entry for the following day, he begins: “Yesterday I became a man and put away childish things.” (Diaries, p. 182)  … Continue reading

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Pre-Halloween Roundup

–A copy of a 1938 passenger list for the SS Aquitania has been posted on Reddit. This contains the opening pages and then an excerpt showing passengers whose names begin with “W”. On that page are listed Evelyn Waugh and … Continue reading

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More Sad News: James Waugh 1946-2022

–In the course of reviewing some of the notices regarding the recent death of Alexander Waugh, additional sad news is reported. This involves the apparent death of Alexander’s uncle, James Waugh, on 12 September 2022. This was reported in the … Continue reading

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