The Life of Evelyn Waugh A Critical Biography [Paperback]

He has written a masterful biography, rich in enlivened critical detail, which more than any other study of Waugh to date, works to redress the bias against its subject that is so representative of Stannard's major two-volume account.Chronology of Waugh's Works.

List of Illustrations.

List of Abbreviations.

Preface.

1. Becoming Modern (1903-1930).

2. The Doom of Youth: Decline and Fall and Vile Bodies.

3. Political Decade - I (1930-1935).

4. Political Decade - II (1935-1939).

5. A Peoples War (1939-1945).

6. Brideshead Revisited.

7. A Peoples Peace (1945-50).

8. The Post of Honour is a Private Station (1948-1953).

9. Retrospective: Shaping a Life (1953-66).

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Patey mounts a spirited defence of Waugh, dismissing with some authority many of the familiar items on the charge-sheet. Patey seems to have read not only everything his subject wrote, but a great deal of background material. Such thoroughness, and an alertness to what may be going on in Waugh's apparently limpid prose makes it a valuable addition to a growing body of critical work on this twentieth-century master. Times Literary Supplement

This calm, deliberate biography- which measures Waugh's life in the context of his work, rather than making the work serve as an excuse for discussing the life - should be included in every academic collection for use of undergraduates through faculty Choice

Patey's sympathetic and acute portrait of Waugh narrates Waugh's narration of his own life, combining thorough research with an exhaustive knowledge of Waugh's fiction and nonfiction and the insight of a highly skilled litlÃ;