Evelyn Waugh Writer and Convert

							Evelyn Waugh:
 Writer and
  Convert


   Sebastian H. Lukasik
    12 December 2010
                Game Plan
• Background and Early Life
• Path to Conversion
• Writer and Soldier
• Coping with the Modern
  World
• Catholicism as a Literary
  Influence
• Conclusion: Why Waugh
  Matters
      Background and Early Life
• Born 28 October 1903
   – Younger brother of
     Alexander (Alec) Waugh
• His father, Arthur, was an
  editor, literary critic, and
  author
• Grows up in a High
  Church Anglican family;
  is fascinated by Anglican
  liturgy and ritual
• Intellectually precocious;
  writes his first short story
  at the age of six
        A Budding Agnostic
• 1917: Enters Lancing College, a second-rate
  public school
• Falls under the sway of an agnostic teacher
  – he ridicules Waugh’s religious beliefs
  – steers Waugh toward agnosticism and
    ultimately atheism
• He continues to develop his interest in
  literature, theater, and the arts
• Earns money from designing book jackets
  for Chapman and Hall publishers
• Wins a scholarship to attend Hertford
  College, Oxford
                 Oxford Years
• Arrives at Oxford in January 1922 to
  read history
• Views university as a social, rather
  than an intellectual or educational
  experience
• Becomes associated with “The
  Hypocrites’ Club”
• Has a nasty falling-out with his tutor
  and dean
• Summer 1924: loses his scholarship
  after poor performance on final
  exams; leaves Oxford without taking
  a degree
       Search for a Vocation
• September 1924: Enrolls at Heatherly’s
  Art School, London, but gets bored with
  his studies and drops out
• January 1925: takes up a teaching
  position at Arnold House, a Welsh prep
  school for boys
  – Depression and attempted suicide
• 1925 – 1928: “Locust Years”
  – Holds a variety of temporary, low-paying,
    unsatisfying jobs
            Becoming a Writer
• April 1928: Publishes a
  biography of Dante Gabriel
  Rossetti
• Favorable reception from critics
• Decline and Fall (Sept. 1928)
• June 1928: Marries Evelyn
  Gardner
  – Her family does not like him
  – Financial and health problems
• “She-Evelyn” and “He-Evelyn”
  – Divorce and annulment
       The Path to Conversion
• Retains curiosity about
  religion; enjoys argument and
  debate, occasionally attends
  Mass while at Oxford
  – Hears a sermon by Ronald Knox
    in 1924
• Olivia Plunket-Greene, a close
  Oxford friend and a convert,
  introduces him to Fr. Martin
  D’Arcy, S. J., in 1927
• Received into the Church on
  29 Sept. 1929
         Waugh’s Conversion:
          The Implications
• Waugh’s conversion creates sensation and
  scandal in high society
• Several of his friends ostracize him
• Critics doubt his sincerity and commitment
• Popular interpretations of his conversion:
  – an attempt to garner publicity or notoriety
  – a manifestation of socio-cultural elitism
  – an impulsive act of rebellion or contrarianism
• His father disapproves of Waugh’s
  “perversion to Rome”
        Waugh’s Conversion: The
              Rationale
• Waugh’s explanation: life is
  “unendurable and unintelligible
  without God” (1949)
• Answers his critics in
  “Converted to Rome” (1930):
• Attracted to the intellectual rigor
  of Catholic theology
• Fr. D’Arcy, The Nature of Belief
  (1931): reasoned assent, not
  sentiment or raw emotion, must
  be the main criterion of faith
            Waugh’s Conversion:
              The Rationale
• Views Catholicism as the custodian
  of Europe’s historical and cultural
  heritage
• Influence of T. S. Eliot, G. K.
  Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, and
  Christopher Dawson
• Belloc: “The Faith is Europe, and
  Europe is the Faith”
• Waugh: “It is no longer
  possible…to accept the benefits of
  civilization and at the same time
  deny the supernatural basis upon
  which it rests.”
         A Maturing Faith
• Initially has trouble identifying
  thoroughly with his faith
• 1930s and early 1940s: emphasizes the
  logical foundations of religious truth
• Expresses contempt for the veneration of
  relics and other “superstitions”
• Begins to profess greater concern with
  personal ritual practices
            A Maturing Faith
• 1930s: Extensive travel in the Mediterranean,
  Africa, and Latin America as formative
  experience:
  – Comes into sustained contact with missionaries
    and non-European Catholics
  – Gradually moves away from viewing Catholicism
    as an expression of European values alone
  – Deeply impressed by the capacity of the Church to
    accommodate a wide variety of ethnicities,
    nationalities, social classes and cultures
  – Argues that Christianity and racial prejudice are
    incompatible
• Catholicism as “the whole of fallen man
  redeemed”
          Becoming a Celebrity
• Travels extensively throughout
  the 1930s
• Works as a journalist while
  continuing to write fiction
• Reports on the Italian invasion
  of Abyssinia in 1935
• Becomes increasingly involved
  debates about the deteriorating
  international situation
• Equally wary of Fascism and
  Communism
       Becoming a Celebrity
• Writes satirical, tragicomic works that
  double as social commentary:
  – Vile Bodies (1930)
  – Black Mischief (1932)
  – A Handful of Dust (1934)
  – Scoop (1938)
             Second Marriage
• Meets and falls in love with
  Laura Herbert during a trip to
  Italy in 1933
  – Her family does not like him
• His first marriage is annulled in
  1936
• Writes Edmund Campion: Jesuit
  and Martyr (1935) to impress
  Laura’s family
• It works!
  – They are married in 1937
      The Second World War
• Views the outbreak of war as an
  opportunity to become a man of action by
  serving in an honorable cause
• Perceives the war as a crusade against all
  varieties of totalitarianism
• Nazi-Soviet Pact (Aug. 1939) confirms his
  convictions about the kinship of totalitarian
  regimes
• Believes Britain has a moral obligation to
  come to the aid of Poland, an ally and a
  Catholic nation
         The Second World War
• Laura wants him to find a desk
  job, but he is eager to participate
  in combat
• Obtains a commission in the
  Royal Marines; subsequently
  transfers to the Special Air
  Service (SAS)
• He is a competent and
  courageous soldier, but his
  superiors consider him
  temperamentally unfit to
  command troops
• Ends the war with the rank of
  captain
         The Second World War
• Serves at Dakar (1940), in
  Crete (1941), and in
  Yugoslavia (1944 – 1945)
• Grows progressively
  disillusioned with the
  military life
• Loses faith in the nobility
  and justice of Britain’s cause
  after its decision to ally with
  the Soviet Union
• Believes Britain and the West
  have betrayed Poland and
  Eastern Europe to the Soviets
   – Yalta Conference
Waugh and the Modern World
• Views the outcome of the war as a catastrophe
• Troubled by widespread suffering and religious
  persecution abroad, esp. in Eastern Europe
• Critical of the Labour Party’s social reforms at home:
   – Love Among the Ruins: A Romance of the Near Future
     (1953)
• Considers emigrating abroad, possibly Ireland or
  Africa, to escape the crassness of post-war Britain
  Waugh and the Modern World
• After 1945, his writings become
  retrospective, reflective, and somber
   – Brideshead Revisited (1945)
   – Helena (1950)
   – The Sword of Honour trilogy (1952 – 1964)
• Develops a reputation as a
  reactionary elitist, snob, and
  misanthrope
• Becomes embittered and prematurely
  aged
• Suffers from bouts of depression
• His health deteriorates through
  excessive drinking, smoking, and
  intake of anti-depressants
       The Knox Connection
• Hears Knox preach for the
  first time in 1924

• Heavily influenced by Knox’s
  The Belief of Catholics (1927)

• They meet in 1933, when
  Knox advises Waugh during a
  dispute with The Tablet

• Knox is a frequent visitor to
  Piers Court
       The Knox Connection
• Waugh and Knox share an irreverent sense of
  humor, a love of language, and a loathing of
  “this revolting age”
  – Knox claims the toaster is the last useful human
    invention

• 1957: the Waughs give up a gambling vacation in
  Monte Carlo to spend time with the ailing Knox

• Waugh becomes Knox’s biographer and literary
  executor
  – The Life of the Right Reverend Ronald Knox (1959)
    Waugh and the Second Vatican
             Council
• Initially welcomes the election of
  John XXIII in 1957, but becomes
  alarmed by the new pope’s call for a
  general council
• Nov. 1962: “The Same Again,
  Please”
   – Fears that “modernists” will use the
     Council to push radical reforms
   – Opposes the vernacular Mass, the
     emphasis on the lay apostolate, and
     ecumenism
• 1966: “The Vatican Council has
  knocked the guts out of me”
                  Final Years
• Late 1950s: withdraws from
  social life
• Affects the persona of a
  cranky eccentric and a
  country gentleman
• Provides spiritual
  encouragement and
  financial assistance to old
  friends
• Begins to write a three-
  volume biography
• Dies on 10 April 1966 a few
  hours after hearing a Latin
  Mass
         Catholicism as a Literary
                Influence
• Waugh’s main themes:
  – Divine Grace

  – Vocation

  – Despair and Suffering

  – Human Love vs. Divine Love

  – Art and Faith
 Conclusion: Why Waugh Matters
• He focused on exploring the human
  condition in relation to God
• He wanted to alert his readers to the
  dangers of moral relativism in politics, art,
  and personal life
• He insisted that every human life has a
  moral purpose
• He emphasized the role of literature and art
  in shaping faith
• He grappled with the issue of how to be a
  Catholic in a secular, materialist world
Evelyn Waugh:
 Writer and
  Convert


   Sebastian H. Lukasik
    12 December 2010