3 Review(s)

Evelyn Waugh: Fictions, Faith and Family is a wide-ranging survey of the prolific literary career of one of the most popular English writers of the 20th century. Michael G. Brennan here identifies three major themes as central to any understanding of Waugh's work: Catholicism, society and the concept of family. From Decline and Fall (published in 1928) to his final writings, this book draws not only on the major novels and short stories but also Waugh's substantial journalistic output, his private journals and correspondences and unpublished draft manuscripts. Through this comprehensive and systematic exploration, Brennan demonstrates the sustained creative importance of Catholicism to Waugh's literary work. In addition, the book goes on to consider how Evelyn Waugh's descendants - his son Auberon and his grandson Alexander Waugh - have echoed and developed these literary concerns in their own writing.