Waugh and the Italian Ham

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The internet site of a translation service has posted a brief article on the derivation of the word prosciutto as their word of the day for 14 October. In English, it has come to mean Italian ham, but in Italian, it is much more complicated:

In Italian, the word derived from the Latin prefix pro, meaning “before,” and the verb exsuctus, which means “to suck the moisture out.” So, while the word defines a product when used in English, it describes the process (aka dry-curing) of making the product in Italian. There are 3 basic types of prosciutto: smoked, which is called affumicato, and the other 2 depend on whether or not the ham is served cooked (cotto) or uncooked (crudo).

The article concludes with a quote from Waugh:

Finally, perhaps painting an elegant and romanticised usage of our ham, Evelyn Waugh tempts us with “Melon and prosciutto on the balcony” in his 1945 classic, Brideshead Revisited.

The bloggers might have made a bit more of this reference if they had noticed that in the first U.K. edition (May 1945, p. 90), the word (which is, after all, a bit of a spelling challenge for English speakers) was misspelled. It appears in a long list of Charles Ryder’s memories of the visit to Lord Marchmain in Venice (Book 1, Chapter 4): “…of melon and prosciuto [sic] on the balcony in the cool of the morning.” The U.S. editors caught the error and italicized the correct spelling in the first U.S. trade edition (January 1946, p. 101).

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Folio Society Issues New Edition of Vile Bodies

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The Folio Society recently issued an illustrated edition of Waugh’s second novel, Vile Bodies. It has an introduction written “for this stylish new edition” by David Lodge, Honorary President of the Evelyn Waugh Society, and is illustrated by Kate Baylay. According to the Folio Society’s press release, Professor Lodge explains why Vile Bodies is his favorite among Waugh’s novels. A review of this new edition appears in the latest issue of The New Criterion.

The Folio Society previously published a boxed set of Waugh’s first six novels, including Vile Bodies. This set, entitled “Comedies,” was issued in 1999 with illustrations by John Holder. Some descriptions mention an introduction by David Lodge that appeared in the Decline & Fall volume of that earlier edition. How, if at all, that may relate to his introduction in this new solo edition of Vile Bodies is not explained in the press release. Other Folio Society editions of Waugh’s works include The Loved One, Brideshead Revisited and a boxed set of Sword of Honour. Some of the novels in the Comedies set have also been issued separately.

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Paula Byrne to Lecture at Oxfordshire Museum

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Literary biographer Paula Byrne will lecture at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock on the subject of her book Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead (2009).

The lecture, sponsored by the Woodstock Literature Society, is scheduled for Saturday, 24 October at 3pm (admission £6 adults, under 18 free). Byrne has presented at two Evelyn Waugh conferences, most recently in Leicester earlier this year where she spoke about her upcoming biography of Kathleen Kennedy, sister of JFK. Her topic was Kathleen’s little-known friendship with Evelyn Waugh. See video here.

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Article Compares Waugh Views on Abyssinia

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The latest edition of British-based journal History Today (access to full article requires subscription) contains a survey of previous writings relating to Haile Selassie, late emperor of Abyssinia.

The article, entitled “Abyssinia Out of the Shadows,” is written by literary critic and biographer Jeffrey Meyers. In it, he compares and contrasts the books of three writers who addressed the career of Selassie from different perspectives: Waugh, who “satirised what he saw as a barbaric country and the splendiferous coronation of the Emperor” in Remote People and “returned six years later to report and praise the Italian invasion” in Waugh in Abyssinia; Wilfrid Thesinger, who spent his childhood in Addis Ababa and later wrote in his autobiography (The Life of My Choice) how Selassie “helped drive out the Italian oppressors…and remained fiercely loyal to Selassie”; and Ryszard Kapuscinski who described the revolution that overthrew Selassie in 1974 in his book The Emperor.

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Waugh in North Devon

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

Following his recent appearance at the Appledore Literary Festival, Duncan McLaren has posted two new articles to his website. “Evelyn in Appledore” and “When Henry Met Evelyn” recount the details of Evelyn Waugh’s visit to that town where he worked on the second half of Vile Bodies while staying at the Royal George Hotel.

The articles also explore Waugh’s relationship with novelist Henry Williamson who lived in nearby Georgeham, North Devon. He is best known for Tarka the Otter but also wrote a series of novels entitled Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight in which a character based on Waugh appears in the volume The Power of the Dead (1963). As McLaren explains, Williamson was a close friend of John Heygate and his wife Evelyn, former wife of Waugh, who also appear as characters in Williamson’s novel.

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Alexander Waugh to Speak on Combe Florey

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The University of Leicester has announced a lecture by Alexander Waugh on Evelyn Waugh’s views on the English country house, with particular reference to his own house, Combe Florey, in Somerset. The talk is open to the public (£3 admission) and will take place at Leicester’s New Walk Museum on Monday, 19 October, at 7:30 p.m.

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New Book On Campion Anticipated by Waugh

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

A new book on the life of Edmund Campion was recently published. This is Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life by UCL Professor Gerard Kilroy issued by Ashgate Publishing. The publisher’s announcement mentions Waugh’s anticipation of such a scholarly work when he wrote what he described as his own

short, popular life to bridge the gulf between [Richard Simpson’s Edmund Campion (1867)] and the definitive, scholarly biography which will doubtless appear in due course from some more suitable pen than mine. [Waugh, Edmund Campion (1935), p. x.]

Waugh deemed Simpson’s work outdated in some respects. Waugh’s book remains in print. It is cited by Professor Kilroy in his preface to the new study:

Evelyn Waugh’s gripping Edmund Campion, first published in 1935, and written with style in five months, elegantly captures the courage and glamour of Campion, even if his assessment of the political context now seems historically, and personally, conditioned.

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Waugh Featured on Desert Island Discs

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

A recent episode of the BBC’s Desert Island Discs featured TV comedy writers Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks. They are probably best known for their political satire series The New Statesman starring the late Rik Mayall as MP Alan B’Stard.

For his Desert Island book, Gran chose, somewhat anticipating their publication, the Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh.  His favorite record was Aretha Franklin’s A Natural Woman and his luxury was a really big drum kit. Marks’ favorites were: book–his own diary; record–Choral No. 58 from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; and luxury–his choice of Chateau d’Yquem from 1900-2001, a fridge, and a set of Sauternes glasses. Waugh might well have approved of that luxury.

Waugh was, however, never a “castaway”on Desert Island Discs. He wasn’t fond of music and, in fact, once commented to Igor Stravinsky that he sometimes found listening to it painful. Perhaps this was related to his later loss of hearing. Waugh did, on the other hand, seem to enjoy musical comedy and is reported to have made multiple trips to performances of The Beggar’s Opera and Kiss Me Kate.

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Put Out More Voles

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

The Daily Telegraph has run a story about restoration of the water vole in the English countryside. It begins with a quote from Waugh:

“Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole.” So wrote William Boot, hapless reporter of Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop. Sadly, the riverbanks of England have heard rather fewer feathery footsteps in recent years. The arrival of American mink, inclined to quest rather too aggressively after water voles in search of a quick meal, has depressed their numbers painfully.

The internet version of the article is accompanied by a photo of this celebrated creature, looking much like a small muskrat. Whether the setting of the photo is a plashy fen is perhaps debatable.

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Alan Hollinghurst Praises Waugh Novel

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Jeffrey Manley

In the latest New York Times “T-Magazine”, British novelist Alan Hollinghurst, best known for Line of Beauty (which reminded some commentators of Brideshead Revisited), has named his 10 favorite books. Among those listed is Waugh’s Put Out More Flags:

Published in 1942, this marvelously mordant account of the first years of World War II, less known than the wonderful “Decline and Fall” and “A Handful of Dust,” is perhaps Waugh’s most flawless comic novel. Every word tells.

Other selections include The Complete Ronald Firbank, Henry Green’s Loving and Virginia Woolf’s A Writer’s Diary.

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