Category Archives: Oxford

Early Autumn Roundup

—The Sunday Times carries a review by novelist and critic A N Wilson of the book Swan Song: Diana, My Sister by Charles Spencer. In the course of this, which is largely a defense of Spencer’s book, Wilson cites an … Continue reading →

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End of January Roundup

–A Scottish blogger, posting on Hole Ousia, has expressed his admiration for Waugh’s Diaries. Here’s his discussion of selections from the diaries which he has recently read: I recently read ‘The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh‘ as edited by Michael Davie. … Continue reading →

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Roundup: MLK Day (US) Edition

–The Financial Times has an article by Janan Ganesh entitled “The right will want a United States of Europe”. It opens with this: Auberon Waugh, son of the novelist Evelyn, died a quarter of a century ago this month. Never … Continue reading →

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John Carey: b. 5 April 1935, d. 11 December 2025: R.I.P.

John Carey, former Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford and one of his generation’s most noted literary critics, died last week at the age of 92. His obituary appeared, inter alia, in the Guardian, The Times and the Daily … Continue reading →

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Early August Roundup

–Novelist Dan Fesperman in LitHub.com discusses five novels which are set in realistic but imaginary places. One of those is Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop: …Waugh’s skewering of Fleet Street, published in 1938, is set in the East Africa nation of Ishmaelia, … Continue reading →

Posted in Brideshead Revisited, Complete Works, Decline and Fall, Newspapers, Oxford, Scoop, Vile Bodies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Roundup: End of a Literary Era

–This week’s issue of the New Statesman has as its Weekend Essay an article by John Mullan. This is entitled “The Death of the British Catholic Novel: Catholicism gave English literature something it needs to rediscover” and opens with this: … Continue reading →

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Winter Solstice Roundup

–Novelist Robert Harris has recommended the best 5 collections of letters for the Wall Street Journal. Those of Evelyn Waugh are included: Born in London in 1903, Evelyn Waugh was a reactionary whose distaste for the modern world included the … Continue reading →

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Roundup: Euthanasia, Stiff-upper-lips, and Feminism

–American journalist Roger Kimball, writing in The Spectator, offers his views on certain aspects of legislation proposed by the new Labour Government: …What if you are old, sick or just plain inconvenient? Starmer’s government has a plan for you, too. … 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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Roundup: Two Letters and a Vase

—The Spectator has an article by Dot Wordsworth that features a misattribution to Evelyn Waugh. Here’s the opening: ‘Evelyn Waugh,’ said my husband when I asked who came up with the analogy of carrying a Ming vase. He was, in … Continue reading →

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