A House of Gentlefolks. Illustrated
By Evelyn Waugh
- Release Date: 2025-10-24
- Genre: Fiction & Literature
Description
Evelyn Waugh, born in 1903 in London, was one of the most brilliant and sharp-witted English writers of the 20th century. Known for his razor-sharp satire and elegant prose, Waugh chronicled the decline of British aristocracy, the absurdities of modern life, and the shifting social values of his time with unmatched insight and irony. Educated at Oxford, Waugh became part of the literary and social elite of the 1920s. His early life was marked by a taste for bohemian eccentricity and aestheticism, which later gave way to a deep sense of moral and spiritual reflection—especially after his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1930. This spiritual turn would profoundly influence his later writing. Waugh’s first major success came with Decline and Fall (1928), a biting satire of British education and upper-class hypocrisy. He followed this with other comedies of manners, including Vile Bodies (1930) and A Handful of Dust (1934), in which he blended farce with darker, more tragic undertones. His most celebrated novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), explored themes of memory, faith, and the fading grandeur of the English aristocracy during and after World War II. Though often criticized for his reactionary politics and snobbish views, Waugh’s works remain widely read and respected for their stylistic brilliance and acute social observation. He was a master of satire who used humor not just to entertain, but to expose the emptiness and contradictions of modern life. Evelyn Waugh died in 1966, leaving behind a legacy of novels, travel writing, and short stories that continue to captivate readers. His ability to mix beauty with cynicism, comedy with despair, makes him a timeless figure in English literature.
