Evelyn Waugh, revisited: life beyond Brideshead

One of the lasting luxuries of the literary life is that of rereading old faves. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED is justly regarded as Evelyn Waugh's chef d'oeuvre; but to leave it at that would be a gross disservice to writer and reader alike. Of such other jewels as SCOOP, VILE BODIES and THE LOVED ONE, the last shall be first: a mordant comedy, centred about an elaborate funeral home for Hollywood's rich and famous, and a cemetery for pets. The ineffable Mr. Joyboy, embalmer extraordinaire, and his crematorium cosmetician find their love life complicated by the arrival of a young English poet. Devilish funny, as Wodehouse might say. In the meantime, for those sufficiently curious to investigate the author himself, there is no biography better than Selina Hastings' EVELYN WAUGH, her 700-page magnum opus, which has yet to be superseded. And for the BRIDESHEAD fanatic, consider Jane Mulvagh's MADRESFIELD: THE REAL BRIDESHEAD, which, unlike Castle Howard, where the famous TV series was shot, was the handsome home that inspired the book in the first place. Madresfield Court, in the Malvern hills of Worcestershire, has been the elegant home of the Lygon family for nine hundred, uninterrupted years and almost thirty generations. Moated, turreted and sporting a hundred and sixty rooms (Knole in Kent has twice that, for those in any doubt), this noble building, which played a large part in his youth, served as the author's model for BRIDESHEAD, as did the Lygons themselves, reflected in the doomed Marchmain family as a whole. Evelyn Waugh is waiting to be rediscovered. So is his sense of humour, so often overlooked. More video book reviews at https://www.bookreviewsandvideos.com/