‘Brisk, lively and wonderfully entertaining’ John Banville
‘Excellent … read this book’ Literary Review
‘The best single-volume life of the author available’ Irish Times
The much mythologised author of Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited was hailed by Graham Greene as ‘the greatest novelist of my generation’, yet reckoned by Hilaire Belloc to have been possessed by the devil. Evelyn Waugh’s literary reputation has continued to rise since Greene’s assessment in 1966. Fifty years after his death, Philip Eade draws on extensive unpublished sources to paint a fresh and compelling portrait of this endlessly fascinating man, telling the full story of his dramatic, colourful and frequently bizarre life.
‘Excellent … read this book’ Literary Review
‘The best single-volume life of the author available’ Irish Times
The much mythologised author of Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited was hailed by Graham Greene as ‘the greatest novelist of my generation’, yet reckoned by Hilaire Belloc to have been possessed by the devil. Evelyn Waugh’s literary reputation has continued to rise since Greene’s assessment in 1966. Fifty years after his death, Philip Eade draws on extensive unpublished sources to paint a fresh and compelling portrait of this endlessly fascinating man, telling the full story of his dramatic, colourful and frequently bizarre life.
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Reviews
Eade's new biography draws on unpublished letters, diaries and memoirs to explore the eccentric larger-than-life story of one of the most acclaimed novelists of the 20th century. Will send readers back to the novels in droves
Brisk and entertaining ... intelligent and illuminating ... the best single-volume life of the author available. To read A Life Revisited is to experience a reckoning with a man whose life, like his work, is both a solace and a stimulus
A splendid treat. Eade's exploration of the most significant episodes in the life of this fearless, deeply melancholic comedian is a most worthwhile addition to the bowing shelf of Waughiana
[I]t is the force of Waugh's energy - creative, sexual and social - that crackles through the pages of Philip Eade's meticulous and wildly entertaining biography ... Eade supplies an astonishing wealth of detail ... and is sympathetic to Waugh's many failings without being sycophantic
Anyone with the slightest interest in Evelyn Waugh - and who has not been intrigued by his steady return to favour? - should buy, and keep, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited. Why? Because it is packed with brand new, fascinating information about Waugh, his family, his friends and lovers. As well, it 'rebalances' a number of entrenched, skewed perceptions of man and soldier. And it is irresistibly readable
Vastly entertaining ... a Perrier-Jouët book, frothy and fun
Eade's thoughtful and thorough re-examination will not affect Waugh's status as a novelist, but it may well raise his reputation as a man
Fifty years after Evelyn Waugh's death from a heart attack, aged 62, Philip Eade's challenging biography draws on 80 previously unpublished love letters, written by Waugh to the beautiful Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, one of the wildest of the Bright Young Things with whom he was obsessed in the 1930s. It reveals a softer side to his personality, different from the brilliant, acerbic wit that previous biographers have focused on ... A fascinating read
Philip Eade has written a brisk, lively, and wonderfully entertaining account of the life of a strange, tormented, unique creature. Through page after page one finds oneself laughing aloud yet again at stories that have been told and retold many times. While previous biographers have been respectful (Martin Stannard) or compassionate (Selina Hastings), Eade seems genuinely to like his subject, and takes Waugh largely as he presented himself to the world. In his preface he writes that his intention is not to offer us a reassessment of Waugh the writer, but 'to paint a fresh portrait of the man by revisiting key episodes throughout his life and focusing on his most meaningful relationships. In this admirably modest aim he has happily succeeded
If you like your Waugh fast, furious and funny, there is much to enjoy in Philip Eade's sparkling Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited ... Waugh's letters are a joy to read, and Eade's coup is his access to a hitherto unpublished cache of them
A gloriously entertaining indulgence. There isn't a single dull page in the whole book, and it could easily be twice as long without overstaying its welcome
For all the value of the newly available sources and the good use to which Mr. Eade has put them, in the end it is his biographical skills and crisp way with words and phrase that make this such a valuable tool for understanding the perplexing figure of Evelyn Waugh
This biography, drawing on 80 previously unpublished love letters written by Waugh to Bright Young Thing Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, reveals a softer side to the author of Brideshead Revisited and explores the impact of his complex love life on his novels
Philip Eade makes the case that now is the time to revisit Waugh and see if some of the old charges of cynicism, snobbery and emotional cruelty really hold true. The result is a bright, breezy and sympathetic portrait that stops just the right side of sentimental
The chief delight of this biography is the way it foregrounds Waugh's own voice ... Above all, Eade sends readers back to the books. You'll want to have at least the short stories, Brideshead, A Handful of Dust and the Sword of Honour trilogy to hand after reading this ... Eade shows just how hard-won his effortless brilliance really was
Essential ... Eade's pacey new biography delivers the raw material of Waugh's life ... treat the Waugh aficionado in your life
For even more laughs, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited demonstrates that Waugh's life, already done by divers hands, really is worth another visit
Eade isn't a standard literary biographer; he is, by instinct and preference, an entertainer ... He is an assiduous researcher with a considerable narrative gift. He also, crucially, likes his subject. Waugh never much cared what anyone thought of him, but Eade does, and time and again he finds justification for what previous biographers have considered questionable behaviour. He also has a nice, wry turn of phrase ... this is an exemplary piece of work
Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited represents a sort of tipping point: Eade's even-handedness gently but firmly nudges Waugh's work centre stage again ... Eade is excellent on tracing the sources of Waugh's delights and horrors, from his life to his work and back again: the failures, the successes, the disappointments, the endless grist to the authorial mill
Peppered with humour ... Eade's fine biography does a very good job of pinning down the particular puckish charisma that made Waugh so popular
Spurred by the milestone of fifty years since Waugh's death, encouraged by the subject's grandson, Alexander Waugh, and some new material, Eade has launched into this confounding, crowded, complicated life with brio ... [S]ympathetic, well-researched ... Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited will whet the appetite of any Wavian
Eade's biography is crisp, diligent and sympathetic; his fresh material adds texture to this oft-told story