EVELYN WAUGH - WOAH WOAH WOAH, WHAT WAS HE GOOD FOR?
thekicker.substack.com
Every now and then I read Evelyn Waugh to remind myself how limited my vocab really is and how dexterous writing can actually be. Many of Waugh’s observations are dodgy in a 2022 context, so I don’t recommend you reading him unless you can pretend the last 100 years didn’t happen. And if you’re offended - and you’re 100 percent right to be - take comfort in the fact that he was a miserable bastard. His first wife was also called “Evelyn” and she cheated on him. When he was a schoolmaster he attempted suicide by swimming out to sea, but turned back to shore after being stung by a jellyfish. He also had a unhappy time at war, felt he was born a couple of centuries too late, and towards the end of his life, suffered serious mental health issues. But, in the words of Clive James, he was the supreme writer of English prose in the 20th Century. More than that, Waugh was properly funny. If I had a criticism, it’d be that his plots were sketchy. But you don’t read Waugh for plot. You read him for quotes like these.
EVELYN WAUGH - WOAH WOAH WOAH, WHAT WAS HE GOOD FOR?
EVELYN WAUGH - WOAH WOAH WOAH, WHAT WAS HE…
EVELYN WAUGH - WOAH WOAH WOAH, WHAT WAS HE GOOD FOR?
Every now and then I read Evelyn Waugh to remind myself how limited my vocab really is and how dexterous writing can actually be. Many of Waugh’s observations are dodgy in a 2022 context, so I don’t recommend you reading him unless you can pretend the last 100 years didn’t happen. And if you’re offended - and you’re 100 percent right to be - take comfort in the fact that he was a miserable bastard. His first wife was also called “Evelyn” and she cheated on him. When he was a schoolmaster he attempted suicide by swimming out to sea, but turned back to shore after being stung by a jellyfish. He also had a unhappy time at war, felt he was born a couple of centuries too late, and towards the end of his life, suffered serious mental health issues. But, in the words of Clive James, he was the supreme writer of English prose in the 20th Century. More than that, Waugh was properly funny. If I had a criticism, it’d be that his plots were sketchy. But you don’t read Waugh for plot. You read him for quotes like these.