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.
“I always maintain a certain privacy on the sea. One so easily forms acquaintances which become tedious later.” - Scoop
“News is what a chap who doesn't care much about anything wants to read.” - Scoop
“Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there's no room for the present at all.” - Brideshead Revisited
“Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.” ― Diaries of Evelyn Waugh
“After all, damn it, what does being in love mean if you can't trust a person.” ― Vile Bodies
“O God, make me good, but not yet.” ― Brideshead Revisited
“No one is ever holy without suffering.” ― Brideshead Revisited
“[Change is] the only evidence of life.” ― Brideshead Revisited
“I did not know it was possible to be so miserable and live but I am told that this is a common experience.” ― said in a letter to a friend after his divorce.
“I can't bare you when you're not amusing.” ― Vile Bodies
“Soon someone would say the fatal words, "Well, I think it’s time for me to go to bed.” ― Vile Bodies
You can get Adam’s book Twelve Summers here.