Description
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and the Financial Times
A completely fresh view of one of the most gifted--and fascinating--writers of our time, the enigmatic author of Brideshead Revisited
Graham Greene hailed Evelyn Waugh as "the greatest novelist of my generation," and in recent years Waugh's reputation has only grown. Now, half a century after Waugh's death in 1966, with Evelyn Waugh, Philip Eade has delivered a hugely entertaining biography that is both authoritative and full of new information, some of it sensational.
Drawing on extensive unseen primary sources, Eade's book sheds new light on many of the key phases and themes of Waugh's life: his difficult relationship with his embarrassingly sentimental father; his formative homosexual affairs at Oxford; his unrequited love for various Bright Young Things; his disastrous first marriage; his momentous conversion to Roman Catholicism; his unconventional yet successful second marriage; his checkered wartime career; and his shattering nervous breakdown. Along the way, we come to understand not only Waugh's complex relationship with the aristocracy, but also the astonishing power of his wit, and the love, fear, and loathing that he variously inspired in others. Waugh was famously difficult, and Eade brilliantly captures the myriad facets of his character, even as he casts new light on the novels that have dazzled generations of readers.
Author: Philip Eade
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 10/10/2017
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 5.70w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9781250143297
ISBN10: 1250143292
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures
- Biography & Autobiography | Historical
About the Author
PHILIP EADE has worked as a criminal barrister, English teacher, and journalist. His first book, Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters, was runner-up for the Biographers' Club Prize, and a New York Times' Editors' Pick; his second, Prince Philip, became a Sunday Times bestseller. He lives in London.