Last month, the Independent ran a column naming what it deemed to be the 10 best fictional countries created by writers. None of Waugh’s efforts made the first cut, but the response was so great that a second round was published, expanding the list to the top 50. Waugh’s “Ishmaelia” from Scoop
(1938) is named in this new list, nominated by three readers:
Ishmaelia. Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh, with its “very promising little war” (Lord Copper). Nick Reid, Dan Kelly and Fiona Laird.
Not mentioned is another fictional county of Waugh’s, “Azania” from Black Mischief
Coincidentally, the map of Azania provided at the beginning of Waugh’s novel bears some resemblance to the 1669 map of Atlantis which illustrates the Independent‘s article. The Azania map’s cartographer is not identified, but Waugh executed several drawings for a limited edition of Black Mischief and may well have also drawn or contributed to the map. Later editions include some of the drawings, as well as the map, all of which are attributed to Waugh in the Penguin version.
, pp. 571-71, starts by expressing his thanks for the book and his sorrow that Simon & Schuster found it so fascinating. He notes his belief that the book was both indelicate and prolix and concludes his objections to the novel with the passage quoted above, but he then continues:
, a memoir of Gore Vidal by novelist Michael Mewshaw. The review mentions a 1978 dinner party in Italy to which Mewshaw invited Vidal and his partner Howard Austen. The occasion was to honor John D’Arms, newly appointed director of the American Academy in Rome, and his wife Teresa, Waugh’s daughter. Campbell does not start well on this anecdote when he refers to Teresa as a novelist, confusing her with her sister-in-law, Auberon’s wife, Teresa Onslow Waugh, who is, indeed, a novelist.
, 1995), where he had mentioned that Waugh “once claimed not to know who [Vidal] was at someone else’s dinner table.” In those memoirs, Vidal explained that he had “read with pleasure all of Waugh” but found him “singularly detestable.” He went on to describe Waugh as “that self-invented English Catholic gentleman…proud esquire of a smidgen of English dirt.” (Palimpsest, pp. 204, 312).
, pp. 111-12)
” , a 57-page extract from 
. His omission from the current batch of celebratory booklets may be due to his date of birth (1903). Those qualifying were all born before 1900. The youngest author represented is Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). Would it be churlish to wonder whether an author’s work had to be out of copyright to qualify for this latest round?
).
as one of the 100 greatest novels in English.