BRIDESHEAD GEN PA [Paperback]

Humphrey Carpenter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1992

'[The Brideshead Generation] has both style and substance, and is above all an enjoyable companion. It has a wildly amusing cast, here controlled by a skilful director.' Evening Standard 'Jovial and entertaining, full of the sort of stories that your friends will tell you if you don't read it before them.' Independent 'Carpenter has read widely and has collected an enormous fund of entertaining stories and facts.' Sunday Telegraph 'Hauntingly sad and wonderfully funny and by far the best thing Humphrey Carpenter has done.' Fiona MacCarthy, The Times

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Waugh's Oxford set did not have the cohesion of the Bloomsbury set, but nonetheless included such writers as Graham Greene, Anthony Powell and Nancy Mitford. "Carpenter provides new and interesting detail about this talented and crusty writer," said PW. "This book is not so much a group portrait as a half-biography of Waugh." Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Waugh is the focus of a study that examines Anthony Powell, John Betjeman, Cyril Connolly, Graham Greene, and several lesser figures. Eton and Oxford, experimental homosexuality, snobbery, and self-conscious eccentricity link this group, although Greene stands somewhat apart. Carpenter tracks the effect Waugh's disastrous first marriage had on his subsequent career and his retreat into alcoholic uppercrustedness. Perhaps purposely he does not push his analysis of these damaged personalities back to their nanny-dominated childhoods, nor ask whether their very character malformations are essential to their art. Building on Martin Green's Children of the Sun ( LJ 4/1/76), Carpenter captures the ethos of an important group in English literary culture. For collections with substantial holdings in modern British literature.
-Barbara J. Dunlap, City Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Mariner Books (January 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395597692
• ISBN-13: 978-0395597699
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,227,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious and Amusing, July 6, 2003

By 

William Tegner (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brideshead Generation: Evelyn Waugh and His Friends (Hardcover)

This is an admirable book, well written, balanced and well researched. After a slightly hesitant start, the scene shifts to Oxford in the early twenties; it comes across as a very dissolute place, with distinct homosexual undertones. The noticeable "public school" backdrop leaves you wondering why anyone should send their child to an English boarding school (at very great expense, incidentally). But they did, and still do. However, at Oxford we are introduced to a veritable galaxy of talent, including Evelyn Waugh, the lead character in the book, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, Anthony Powell and others. There are some very amusing quotes and anecdotes.

But the book becomes increasingly serious, and whilst not specifically a work of literary criticism, it cites reviews and gives the background to the works of Waugh and to a lesser extent others. It also looks at the curious world of the Roman Catholic convert. At the end I felt a little sad for Waugh and some of his contemporaries. In spite of their achievements, by no means all of them seemed happy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rereading this after 14 years - what a wonderful book!, May 26, 2007

By 

Rachel Carpenter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BRIDESHEAD GEN PA (Paperback)

I loved it the first time but may be enjoying it even more the second--possibly because in the interim I have read Beerbohm (Zuleika Dobson in particular; the existence of which this book made me aware), Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, and others. (In some ways this group literary biography tops Powell's work - by the end of Time, I felt a bit worn out by the multitude of characters who appeared so briefly, whereas here I feel like I get a bead on even the most minor "characters." Very much feel like I'm in the company of someone who knows his stuff--knows the best stories--has an eye for great detail and great anecdote, and an empathy (balanced by humor, or vice versa) for his subjects. And he's sitting there in a study with a ton of personal letters and memoirs and diaries spread out on the table, pointing out the best bits. Excellent writer, too. And no, I am no relation....

3.0 out of 5 stars A Biography of Waugh, January 20, 2012

By 

Rob Thackeray (Somerset) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Brideshead Generation: Evelyn Waugh and His Friends (Paperback)

In the Author's Note, Humphrey Carpenter states: 'This is a study of several writers and their circle . . . Evelyn Waugh is the central figure in the narrative . . . I have not, however, tried to write an exhaustive biography of him' (p.ix). Even though that might not have been Humphrey Carpenter's aim, it is what he has achieved. This book is not, as the title suggests, a balanced study of similarly aged individuals who simultaneously attended different Oxford University colleges for two or three years, as did the fictitious Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited during the same historical period.

In addition to Evelyn Waugh, the principal figures Humphrey Carpenter collectively refers to as 'The Brideshead Generation' are: Harold Acton, Brian Howard, Cyril Connolly, John Betjemen, Henry Yorke, Graham Greene, John Sutro, Anthony Powell, and Osbert Lancaster. Waugh seems to be prominent, not because 'he displayed the characteristics and conflicts of the group more intensely and dramatically, and entertainingly, than any other member' (p.ix), but because he was the author of the very popular book that lends this book its theme. To claim that Waugh typified the group's characteristics is misleading. Although attending Oxford University at the same time, this was far from being a homogeneous group in any sense.

All these individuals led interesting and eventful lives after leaving Oxford University. Harold Acton, for example, lived in China for many years (two very interesting, and beautifully written, autobiographies). Osbert Lancaster was a cartoonist, most notably for the Daily Express. John Betjemen became Poet Laureate in 1972. Norman Sherry documents the drama of Graham Greene's life and his extensive travels in three weighty volumes of biography. During the war, Anthony Powell served in military intelligence; he later wrote the twelve-volume novel, 'Dance to the Music of Time' (scarcely mentioned). Although briefly discussed at different points in the book, compared with Waugh, there is disproportionately little detail about these and other group members' lives, or their work.

The plates within the book reflect the skewed emphasis on Waugh: there are photographs of Waugh's grandfather, father, brother, his first and second wives, and his children; but (excepting the poor quality, over-enlarged group photograph on the cover), no photographs of Harold Acton, Henry Yorke, John Sutro or Osbert Lancaster. Of the 44 plates inside the book, 26 are of Waugh, his family, his possessions, or his drawings.

The narrative ceases when Waugh passed away in 1966; there are only a few 'mopping up' paragraphs which ignore most members of the cohort. This is disappointing and further contradicts the book's title. Except for Brian Howard, all the individuals mentioned above lived many years after Waugh's death: Graham Greene lived until 1991; Harold Acton until 1994; and Anthony Powell survived Waugh by 34 years.

My three star rating is due to expectations arising from the title being largely unfulfilled. Considered as a biography of Waugh, this book is patchy but quite interesting. Most of the information it contains is covered more comprehensively in biographies of Waugh explicitly labelled as such. This is a splendid idea for a book, and Humphrey Carpenter has a fluent and readable style, but, due to the shortcomings described above, it is ultimately a disappointment.