Customer Reviews

Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead

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I freely admit to an aversion to most biographies; those half ton tomes stuffed to overflowing with superfluous information, regurgitated facts that represent the flotsam and jetsam of the life in question as opposed to actual milestones and achievements. Happily, this is not the case with Paula Byrne's Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead Mad World, a biography as witty and amusing as its subject, which, in the case of Evelyn Waugh, is saying a great deal.

As is the case with most historical biographies, Mad World follows Waugh's life from cradle to grave. As we trek along we are treated to brief portraits of Waugh's parents and brother Alec, all those Mitford sisters, his annulled first marriage and life-long second, his conversion to Catholicism, as well as pointedly detailed descriptions of his published works, including Vile Bodies, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited.

The pace picks up (and never flags) once Waugh enters Oxford, where he quickly develops friendships with the likes of Harold Acton and Brian Howard, and enters into a series of homosexual relationships, the most profound and lasting with Hugh Lygon, second son of the 7th Earl Beauchamp, and the inspiration for Brideshead's Sebastian Flyte.

Waugh is taken under Lygon's wing, and is introduced to the family, becoming a life-long friend and confidante of sisters Mary and Dorothy, as well as a fixture at the family manse Madresfield (hence "Mad World"); and was witness to the disgrace of Earl Beauchamp, forced to flee the country or face charges of Gross Indecency, and the family's dishonor.

Byrne has painstakingly researched her material, and though her finished text is rich in detail and critical observances, it seems never heavy handed or in the least tedious. Indeed, her work reads as though it were a novel, a modern day retelling of Waugh's classic Brideshead Revisited, which is the kindest compliment it could be paid.

While I love literature, I am very rarely interested in books that accompany it- biographies, collections of letters, or books that purport to tell the " real story" behind the book. This is delightful exception.

I was intrigued by the real family that inspired " Brideshead" and the author does a great job of explaining Waugh's close relationship them, how he did or did not disguise them in the novel, and the reaction of the family to the book. ( Did anyone ever really belive the author's note "I am not I: thou art not he or she: they are not they."?)

In addition to the biographical information that helps us understand Waugh and the world he created, the author does a good job of placing the real people and events in context, giving us a better understanding of the intersection of Catholicism and the peerage that is so important to the novel, and of the theme of people struggling to reconcile their lives with God and theology. A must read for anyone who has read and loved
"Brideshead Revisited"

A biography needs to have a Point of View. Usually it is its subject and should be so if he is unlikely to be portrayed more than once. Evelyn Waugh is not such a case. The interest in him is sufficiently wide to accommodate different Points of View. Mad World is written from the Point of View of the Lygon family, with whom Waugh was friendly and whose members are in part associated with individual characters in Brideshead Revisited.
Paula Byrne has done her subject proud and, if one puts a price on the pleasure something provides, it is hopelessly under-priced. Mad World reveals much of what I did not know of Evelyn Waugh, even though I have read about him to a considerable degree. It reveals much more about the Lygon family members. How interesting it is that seemingly insignificant events in Brideshead Revisited happened in one degree or another to people mentioned in this biography. Two villains make their appearance. The first is the second Duke of Westminster, a character as malignant to the seventh Earl Beauchamp as the appalling Marquess of Queensbury was to Oscar Wilde. The second villain was King George V. He abandoned his loyal servant Beauchamp to the Duke of Westminster's knavery in a manner only less reprehensible to the way he abandoned his cousin, Tsar Nicholas II.
After Brideshead Revisited, life did not proceed smoothly for any of the people in this book. I remind myself of the conversation between Cordelia and Charles in Brideshead:
` ... such an engaging child, grown up a plain and pious spinster, full of good works.' Did you think "thwarted"?'
It was no time for prevarication. `Yes,' I said, `I did; I don't now so much.'
`It's funny,' she said, `that's exactly the word I thought for you and Julia when we were up in the nursery with nanny. "Thwarted passion," I thought...'
Thwarted. That's what happened to them all.
Paula Byrne's style is free of journalistic puffery, therefore this biography is authoritative. I find very few vague points.

"No writer before the 19th century ever wrote about the working classes other than as grotesques or pastoral decorations. Then when they were given the vote, certain writers started to suck up to them." Evelyn Waugh.

Evelyn Waugh was one of the greatest and funniest writers in the 20th century, beginning with the jokey "Vile Bodies" all the way to the Proust like elegy of the Sword of Honour Trilogy. While this book is interesting and provides insight into Waugh's creative process of people his books with people he knew, it probably is not the final word. "Mad World" is Madresfield Court, the home of the aristocratic Lygon family and friends of Waugh for several decades.

The author has done a great deal of admirable leg work in tracking down some of Waugh's inspiration for the celebrated Marchmain family in "Brideshead Revisited." There are some similarities between Lygons and their fictional counterparts. The father was hounded out of Britain under a cloud of scandal and the son indulged in various "Arcadian antics" at Oxford, while one of the sisters was a society beauty. While I had been aware of the Lygons, I was unaware of many of the particulars of their lives and the impact they had on the creation of not just the Marchmains, but other people and characters in other works of fiction by Waugh. Probably the best moment in the book for me was the assertion that Brendon Bracken, a stalwart associate of Churchill was the model of Rex Montram. Certain passages referring to Rex betting his political career on the outbreak of World War Two now make perfect sense.

Where I think the author misses the boat with Waugh is on two small, but significant points. These do not detract from the scholarship of the work as a whole, but I think are worth pointing out just the same. Really the source for a good portion of his art was his reaction to his wife's adultery and desertion of him. This is central and marks a abrupt shift in the light mood of books such as "Vile Bodies" and "Decline and Fall." From "A Handful of Dust" down to "Sword of Honour," most of Waugh's works feature this as a reoccurring plot device. Yet in this book, whose theme is how Waugh turns the events and acquaintances of his life into literature, this important theme is ignored. Waugh believed that traditional institutions like the British aristocracy represented a bulwark against social rot. Tearing down the great London townhouses to put up blocks of flats only provides Brenda Last with a venue for her affair with John Bever.

The other problem is that I wonder just how close Waugh was with the Lygons, really. The author makes a good point that Waugh wrote to at least two of the daughters rather jokey gossipy letters. Of course Waugh did this with everyone he wrote to. While he may have appropriated some details of the biographies of the Lygons, I do not think they are as central to Waugh's inner life as Paula Byrne makes out.

That said, this is an enjoyable meditation on the creative process and well worth reading for any true fan of Waugh's writings

This one really couldn't miss, and it doesn't. Despite the multiple biographies of Evelyn Waugh and his circle no one yet has really made clear the story of his infatuation in the Twenties and Thirties with the aristocratic Lygon family, the inspiration for the doomed Flyte family of his great work BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. The Flytes are so steeped in wealth, glamor and decay that a biography about their real-life originals is interesting to just about anyone interested in Waugh or his era. Like his narrator in BRIDESHEAD Charles Ryder, the middle-class Waugh first became infatuated with the family's gay and alcoholic second son at Oxford: Hugh Lygon, like Sebastian Flyte, was considered a kind of demigod on campus because of his beauty and gentleness. Eventually Waugh's interest became focused more on Hugh's sisters: the glamorous Maimie, the model for Julia and a girlfriend of Prince George, and the plain but loveable "Coote" who served as the original for Cordelia. Like the Flytes' paterfamilias the Marquis of Marchmain, the head of the Lygons, the Earl Beauchamp, lived in disgrace apart from his pious wife because of his sexual malfeasances, but in this case the Earl had been hounded out of society by his brother-in-law the Duke of Westminster for his homosexual affairs. Paula Byrne unravels the story here of all the Lygons, which has hitherto been alluded to but gone largely unrecorded, and of the family's close relationship for decades with Waugh.

Along the way, Byrne also provides an intelligent reappraisal of Waugh's character. Biographies are often vastly hleped if their authors genuinely feel affection for their biographical subjects; this does not mean they have to ignore their flaws, but rather that they have to make us feel why their personalities are worth our attention. Byrne clearly had an agenda in writing this book of rehabilitating Waugh from his by-now somewhat disreputable public image; she works hard to dispel the notions that he was a cruel crank by pointing out that most of the most truly awful things he went on record as saying were in order to assume a persona for his own (and his friends') amusement. So far, so good: unfortunately, Byrne stretches too far when she tries to argue he is nothing like the toadying hanger-on to aristocracy he has been popularly supposed to be. Despite her efforts to show us Waugh could be critical of his friends in high places it's all too clear from her own compelling narrative that he adored knowing people with titles and did everything he could to be reinvited to the Lygon's seat of Madresfield Court (which was more of the model of the Victorian Gothic pile Hetton Abbey from his A HANDFUL OF DUST that the Baroque palace of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED). Yet given how glamorous the Lygons were--and how they fanned his imagination for not just one but several of his novels--it's impossible to find much fault with this if you're interested in Waugh's writing at all. Byrne is also quite a good writer, and her narrative is beautifully structured; you really become curious as to what will happen to the doomy Lygon siblings as the book proceeds.

MAD WORLD is, for the most part, a thoughtful and well-researched exploration of the autobiographical features of Evelyn Waugh's novel BRIDESHEAD REVISITED and the mostly tragic lives of the aristocratic English family, the Lygons of Madresfield Court, who partially inspired Waugh's fictional Marchmain family.

Unfortunately, the book is marred at times by Ms. Byrnes' silliness, or perhaps dramatics would be the better description - "Ann Fleming killed Evelyn Waugh" is the example that sticks in my mind - and she's occasionally repetitive. It's awkward to see her refer to Prince Vsevolod of Russia, who married Mary Lygon, as a nephew of the last Tsar, when in fact he was a distant cousin. Ms. Byrne also has the tendency to interject phrases such as "he must have been devastated" and "it must have been very upsetting" into the narrative. And I wonder what Evelyn Waugh would have had to say to a biographer who begins her description of how he spent his time after leaving Oxford: "Evelyn _hung out_ with..."

The author also uses the modern term, "outing", in respect to what happened to Lord Beauchamp. I found her use of this term a little jarring given the time period in which these events took place. Lord Beauchamp's exile from England had deep roots, beginning with the dislike and resentment of his brother-in-law. There was further distaste and distrust of Lord Beauchamp which came from the very highest people in England as regards his sexual inclination, which would eventually result in Beauchamp's loss of prestige; exile from his home, and even more sadly, separation from his family. Realistically I guess what happened to him qualifies as an "outing" (even if Lord Beauchamp's exposure as a homosexual didn't go all-public, but was confined to members of the aristocracy). Still, using the term seems too slight, almost a 'throw-away' - it doesn't accurately convey the planning behind it all, the pressures brought to bear, and the complicated emotions involved in Lord Beauchamp's exile.

Aside from these imperfections MAD WORLD is a very good book. The chapter on Lord Beauchamp's divorce and about the people behind his expulsion and exile from England is particularly good (though there again, the author chooses to use another modern term, "busted" in her chapter heading, which made me cringe). I admired the author's disclosure of the other side of Evelyn Waugh: his gift for loyal and tender friendship. Also, Waugh was a writer who created brilliant and lasting fiction from his life and from the lives of his friends and acquaintances, and Ms. Byrne is at her best when describing the autobiographical facets of his novels. Though definitely not flawlessly written, MAD WORLD is a consistently interesting exploration of Evelyn Waugh's life and art.

Much I did not know in this book about the family and manor on which the novel was loosely based. I enjoyed the insights into how the upper class in post-WWI England drank and partied their way into tragic and irrelevant lives. At the end one has a feeling of waste as well. All that wealth, all that potential, and it goes to dress-up costume parties and the predictable end of alcoholism. Waugh added the religious aspect, though the tragedy is still there.

If you loved "Brideshead" and want to know a very good theory as to its origins, this is your book.

My only criticism is that it could have stood more rigorous editing. I think about a quarter could have been shaved off without missing it.

Fine illustrations and photos -- takes you back to that era.

In "Mad World," Paula Byrne offers an interesting look at Evelyn Waugh and the creation of "Brideshead Revisited." This is a charming, breezy book and, while it offers a solid look at the early life of the subject, it is not a biography by any means. Byrne offers little on Waugh's last two decades for example. Byrne looks at the real life incidents, places and people that Waugh used to build "Brideshead Revisited" which remains one of the classic novels of 20th century England. Byrne takes Waugh's faith--and his conversion to Catholicism--seriously which helps her present her subject thoroughly. Fans of "Brideshead Revisited" will find the book interesting though readers looking to know about Waugh's other works and his career as a whole should look elsewhere. While it's appeal is limited, "Mad World" is accessible and very readable while still offering insight into its subject.

Very good material for a work on spiritual theology. This book recounts the "Aesthete's Conversion" but I am still not quite sure whether or not it was a complete moral and religious conversion. Evelyn's own evalutation of "Brideshead Revisited" varied later he felt it too "sentimental". His magnum opus is a marvelous thing to rival Shakespeare in its ability to fascinate and mesmerise - especially in its GRANADA Television rendition. I think Waugh is like Shakespeare though with a rather more archetectural approach to the composition of character and narrative. The key thing I am referring to in the title of the review is Lord and Lady Beauchamp's somwhat opposing appreciations of the window in their chapel. The problem with Evelyn and Catholicism as representated in England is that it does come with a taint. Kierkegaard was also concerned that metaphore and story can hide as much as reveal theological truths.

I think in a way Evelyn Waugh has laid out the ordinary man's journey to and away from God. G K Chestertons remarks about Anglicans being more devoted to beauty than truth has a bitter truth to it. But Evelyn at least tried to address the aesthetic needs of those addressed by his "apology". He is doing aesthetically what Newman tried to do intellectually- present an "Apologia Pro Vita Sua".

Like other reviewers, I liked the book, and readily saw where Waugh got lots of his ideas. Brideshead is a favorite of mine, so I wanted to read this to learn a little of the backstory. Besides the interesting reviews others have posted, I want to chime in and agree with the person who criticized the use of modern slang words to describe events of the 1920's. It doesn't work well, it's almost like the author is talking down to us, and sometimes those modern words create a disconnect between the seriousness of what she's writing about and the way we interpret her meaning. Tougher editing might have helped, and some proofreading, too.

The other thing about the book that made me frown a little was her many descriptions of intense and nihilistic drinking, yet she doesnt expand on the subject. Egad, a popular college fad took on a life of its own, and you wonder about the despair that drove a lot of these guys into alcoholic unconsciousness. I think a lot of the people in the book were starved for affection. Shoving kids off to boarding school at 6 or 8 probably had a lot to do with all kinds of problems that showed up later, including becoming life-long inebriates (hello, Sebastian).

And finally, the little private clubs that were formed to allow men of this social milieu to adventure with each other sexually are worth some analysis, but she doesn't offer much insight. You could write a whole book on the subject. But back to my earlier comment on poor choice of words, she does have a rather distant, almost cavalier way of giving a nod of recognition to how often adult men seduce or otherwise engage in sex with young boys. It might be at a school where they have gotten a job as a master, or maybe it's a reference to going abroad and experiencing the same thing in French brothels or somewhere in Egypt or Abyssinia. The author uses the word "enjoyed" in this context several times, evidently not swayed one way or another that it's kids we're talking about here, not other adults. She seems oblivious to how this behavior connects to the very real circumstance of sex slavery or just rich grownups being flat-out mean to a vulnerable human being. She casually cites Somerset Maugham "enjoying" sex with boys in the East, maybe Bangkok or Rangoon. Yes, I know about Maugham, but "enjoyed" isn't a word I'd choose when noting somebody's penchant for pedophilia.

Is it a good book? Indeed it is, especially for people who like Brideshead, that's really the connection she's leaning on. Maybe not a perfect book, but definitely worth your time. My criticisms shouldn't dissuade you from buying a copy.