Decline And Fall

[poliphilo]

Evelyn Waugh and I went to the same school.  And even though I showed up 40 years after him, the ethos- anglo-catholic, dandyish, decadent-  hadn't changed a great deal.  It shaped him, it shaped me- and when I read him- especially the early books- I feel like he's winking at me- that we're co-conspirators in a plot against teachers, parents, prefects, chaplains and- well-  everything there is.

There's a joke in Decline and Fall which only an Old Lanconian could possibly get.

Decline and Fall is his first novel- also his purest and funniest. His attitudes hadn't hardened, he hadn't been nobbled by the Catholics- the irreverence is broadcast far and wide and no-one escapes. 

Comments

[upasaka.livejournal.com]

If you can find it, you might enjoy Waugh's A Little Learning, which is an actual memoir of his school days.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe I did read it- or at least the relevant parts- a long, long time ago. I think I must have because otherwise I wouldn't know about about things like "the corpse club". :)