Book description
In this unique collection of Waugh's early short stories, some of which
became the inspirations for his novels, Waugh displays his unique talent
for comedy and narration. 'Mr Loveday's Little Outing' is a blackly
comic tale of a mental asylum and its favourite resident, while 'Cruise'
sees a hilarious series of letters from a na ve young woman as she
travels with her family. These witty and immaculately crafted stories
display the finest writing of a master of satire and comic twists.
Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903, second son of Arthur Waugh,
publisher and literary critic, and brother of Alec Waugh, the popular
novelist. He was educated at Lancing and Hertford College, Oxford, where
he read Modern History. In 1928 he published his first work, a life of
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his first novel,
Decline and Fall
, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies
(1930), Black Mischief
(1932), A Handful of Dust
(1934) and Scoop
(1938). Waugh travelled extensively and also wrote several travel
books, as well as a biography of Edmund Campion and Ronald Knox. Other
famous works include his Sword of Honour
trilogy, and Brideshead Revisited
(1945).
