EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUDIES
Volume 30, Number 2 Autumn, 1996
THE USES OF GAMES IN BRIDESHEAD REVISITED By Daryl Holmes (Nicholls State University)
While Evelyn W••wgh's Brideshead Revisited has been approached from a variety of perspectives with particular emphasis on the novel as a romance, as an apology for Catholicism, and as an indication of forties sensibilities as infor:ned by the two World Wars, another approach to the novel arises from the striking number of references to James. In addition to the more general references to parlour games, garden games, general post and cards, there are nineteen references to specific games, most of which are either card games or board games. The question of the significance of the game references can be answered by studying the rules of the indi·Jidual games. Of the games actua!!y set up or played, badminton and golf, for 3Xample, are mentioned in passing but neither set up nor ~layed, particular games are chosen to indicate characters' personalities, traits, motivations, and class. They are also used to reinforce the movement of the plot. Further, these games along with psychological games are the finer threads of the larger fabric of the structure of the novel. Games help the narrator to structure his experience within the framework of the World Wars, during and after wrich the narrator along with the other charact8rs in the novel and the people in the world were (and still are) trying to organize their experience. The framework of World War II is in turn part of a larger framework-- the ancient and ongoing cosmic wa.r between good and evil. Because such attention is called to individual games, it is possible to see the larger frameworks a.s larger games themselves and to see the entire structuring ol the novel as a game within a game within a game. Beginning with the types of games that primarily involve objects rather tL,:l people as their playing pieces, the first reference to a game ~ccurs in the opening pages of the first chapter c''.Jring which we are introduced to Sebastian Flyte via his Teddy bear, Aloysius. At first, we imagine the bear a charming eccentricity which marks Sebastian as a member of the upper class, as does the barber (28), but our very first sight of the toy foreshadows a darker motivation for Sebastian's "play" than simple, calculated eccentricity. "Sebastian's Teddy-bear sat at the wheel" (23): the first implication of this image is that Sebastian is attempting to relinquish control, and the second, derived from the first, is that he is attempting to relinquish control to childhood fantasy. The fact that his destination that day that the Teddy bear sat at the wheel was to visit Nanny Hawkins and to de it at a time during which he believes he can avoid seeing any of his family begins to indicate Sebastian's more complex motivation of trying to avoid growing up. The other three games in which Sebastian participates lead us from this exterior and relatively minor indication of a problem to, first, the gateway and, second, the heart of the problem, the increasing complexity of the games coinciding with both the increased knowledge of the problem and the rapid r:.ovement from the inconsequentiality to the extreme seriousness of Sebastian's attempts to escape growing up. The game that acts as a gateway for the narrator and reader into the center of Sebastian's problem is the croquet game in which Sebastian breaks his ankle. In terms of plot movement, it brings Charles from the exterior world of Oxford to the lawn of the Flyte-Marchmain home, closer to the center of the problem. In symbolic terms, the fact that Sebastian brec.i\s his ankle while playing a game, and a game that suggests the lei1:'ured classes, indicates the limits of his flight from adulthood via childhood games. The physical break corresponds to a psychological break from childhooc if not from the tries to escape adulthood and the responsibilities of his class and of being a Catholic. The broken ankle marks the beginning of the end of the idyllic, childhood time. Charles, who has just arrived to nurse Sebastian, notes at the beginning of chapter four:
The langour of Youth-- how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably, lost! ... It is thus I like to remember Sebastian, as he was that summer, when we wandered alone together through that enchanted palace; ... Sebastian hobbling, with a pantomime of difficulty, to the old nurseries, sitting beside me on the thread-bare, flowered carpet with the toy cupboard empty about us 2 and Nanny Haw~ins stitching complacently in the corner saying, "You're one as bad as the other; 2 pair of children the two of you. Is that what they teach you in college?"(79-80). The c~d of the idyll is foreshadowed by Charles's wistful words about lost youth and by the second of the aforementioned games, Sebastian's pantomime, " subtle indication of a growing awareness of pretense. By the end of chapter four, Sebastian's problem is no longer indicated with subtlo hints. Cara articulates it directly: "Sebastian is in love with his own childhood. That will make him very unhappy. His Teddy-bear, his Nanny ... and he is nineteen years old ..." (1 03). And bv the opening pages of chapter five, the idyll is over, the problem is apparent to everyone and Charles himself articulates Sebastian's motivations:
With Sebastian it was different. His year of anarchy had filled a deep, interior need of his, the escape from reality, and as he found himself increasingly hemmed in, where he once felt himself free, he became at times listless and morose, even with rne. (1 07).
The last game in which Sebast;an takes part, the fox-hunt, symbolizes in its complexity, intensity, and pace the core of Sebastian's feelings as he attempts to escape his family and the responsibilities they remind him of. Sebastian is the hunted fox, alone against many hounds and hunters, in search of a place to hide and escape, and finding temporary sheltei in drunkenness in a hotel rather tha:l in a hole in a h~.."~dgerow. This particular game informs the remainder of Sebastian's life. In moments he takes 'he hunter's position, pursuing God and a sense of his own identity, but more often he is the haunted, hunted f'}X. cr,ronologically, the second reference to games toward the beginning of the novel occurs just after Charles arrives to nurse Sebastian and Julia is about to leave. Julia says, "I promised Nanny a last game of halma" (78). Since it is Nanny Hawkins who has requested this game, the game is revealing of her character. In examining the object and rules of the game, we notice that it is a V3ry simple game to play.
The objcc.t of the game -- Each player (2-4) triE}s to move all of his pieces across the board to the corner enclosure diagonally opposite that from which he started. The first player to do so wins the game. . .. As in Checkers, the hopping move once started may be contained as long as the piece finds others to jump. But in Halma, a piece may hop over friendly as well as enemy pieces and the pieces jumped over are not captured. No pieces are ever removed from the board. Furthermore, it is not cumpulsory to jump when able; having started a series of hops, the piece may come to rest at any time the player wic'iled, though additional hops would be possible. (Scarne 538)
Halma is a game that requires minimal thinking and as such is indicative of class. As Scarne notes, it is similar to, thoug~, requires even less thought and strategy than, Checkers, and Checkers itself is associated in the novel with lower classes of people: " ... small Greek traders ... played draughts and listened to the wireless" (304). Not only by its association with checkers do we know that the game is intended to indicate something ot clas.s characteristics. The very fact Nanny Hawkins is a nanny, a servant, indicates that she is not of the aristocracy, and Charles twice makes reference to her class. At one point he notes, "[i]t was ever Nanny Hawkins belief that the upper classes spen' most of their leisure evenings in the ballroom" (1 51). Later he describes her speech as "the soft, peasant tones of its origin" (348). Further, Halma is a "gentle" game, one that blurs the distinction between "friend" and "enemy" by imposing no penalties for neglecting or deliberately determining not to make a possible move and by imposing no penalties like removal from the board for being an "enemy." Such "gentleness" is again indicative of class. the lower classes not being ahle to distinguish good from bad, friend from enemy, let alone cope with the necessary strategies for competing in the serious affairs of ruling and fighting, according to the aristocratic view -- and is also particularly indicative of Nanny Hawkins' trait of wanting to see her charges as they once were-- simple, innocent children-- not as the complex adults they have become:
Nanny did not particularly wish to be talked to; she like visitors best when they paid no attention to her and let her knit away, and watch their faces and think of them as small children; thei> present goings on did not signify much beside those early illnesses and c:imes. ('i51)
The third reference to a game occurs when Charles accompanies Sebe~stian to Venice to see Sebastian's father, Lord March main. After being introduced to Ryder, Lor(J March main, \!lithin five sentences, mentions, "I 3 have taken to playing tennis there [at the Lido] with the professional in the early evening" (98). Known as a sport for the health and active, the mention of tennis here indicates what will become Lord Marchmain's tE primary concern -- remaining healthy/fear of death. Further, tennis is a sport of tr:e upper classes who have a· money enough to purchase the necessary equipment and instruction, who have enough leisure time to play a the game, and who have the adequate mental wherewithal to comprehend, learn and utilize the strategies h necessary for the successful play of the game. B The next mention of games occurs when Charles is staying with the Flytes/Marchmains during the Easter s holiday: he plays Mah Jong with Cordelia (130). A game similar in its play to the card game Rummy, this o game utilizes tiles instead of cards for the creation of sequences. What is particularly intriguing about this n game in light o! the characters playing it is that it is a game involving archetypal symbols of good fortune -- the four winds, the East wind being the prevailing wind for which the player possessing it earns special V31ues in scoring, and Dragons, green, red and white, which, along with the winds constitute the Honor tiles while the rest of the tiles (Bamboo, Character, Dot/Circle and the optional Flower/Season) constitute the Simple tiles, (Wood 392) and which, according to folklore, are tokens of good fortune. Of all of the main characters in Brideshead Revisited, Cordelia and Ryder are the only two who are not already committed to a single :)Urpose and so are not only open to the influence of winds and dragons of fortune, but are a:so able to achieve the good fortune of contentment during their iifetimes. Lord Marchmain is committed to antagonizing Lady Marchmain while Lady Marchmain is committed to Catholicism and suffering. Brideshead is likewise committad to Catholicism, particularly to the letter rather than the spirit of Catholic doctrine. Julia and Seb.~.stian are committed to trying to escape the responsibilities of their religion, and even when they do return to Catholicism, they are too committed to their own sins to relinquish them entirely. Sebastian remains an alcoholiC to his death, and Julia tells Charles that even whilo she is giving up marrying him to atone a littie for her sins, she will sin again. Rex Mottram is devoted to attaining a high social position: he is a "fortune" hunter. While favorable winds -- chance and g.arnbling -- are very much a part of his method of operation and social class, and while, interestingly enougt{' ~)e is at one crucial point, when 8rideshead drops the "bombf'hell" about calling the wedding off because Mottram has been married before, holding "jade dragon, Rex does not achieve the good fortune or contentment he desires. As Julia tells Charles, '" [h]e was ashamed of me when he found I didn't cut the kind of figure he wanted, ashamed of himself for having been taken in. I W;:!sn't at all the article he'd bargained for'" (259). Mr. Samgrass is concerned with remaining employed by Lady Marchmain. And as Ryder suggests of Nanny Hawkins and his own father, "Nanny Hawkins and my father were two people who seemed impervious to change, neither an hour older than when I first knew them" (301 ). Beyond seeming agt.iess, neither Nanny Hawkins nor Edward Ryder dlGnge in terms of their determinations. Nanny consistently remains determined to ignore change, to see Bridey, Julia, Sebastian and Cordelia as children still. Edward Ryder remains determined to live alone and undisturbed in his world of ancient art and artifacts. Only Cordelia and Ryder are flexible enough for real change to occur in their lives, and Waugh's choice of the game Mah Jong is a deliber&te one, intended to indicate the openness to fate, favorable winds, and chance that is part of :ndr natures. Cordelia is at this point too young to know what she wants to do with her life, but even when she does decide to expend herself in charitable deeds and achieves contentment by the performance of these deeds, her possibilities for other avenues toward contentment remain open. She has not become ,, nun; therefore, ma· ;·iage remains one possibility, though not presented as being likely. Even more so than ~ordelia does Charles show himself open to change. We see him first being influenced by Sebastian, t'nen by Anthony Blanche, the, by Julia, and overall, especially in terms of his faith, by the entire Flyte-Marchmain family. During this same Easter holiday it is noted that Brid8shead plays Patience (133). Patience, or Solitaire, is a particularly fitting game to underscore Bridey's essential traits. On the one:hand he. is patient. Despite the responsibilities he has assurned, " ... engaged in sport and estate management" (128), and perhaps engaged in being, asJohn Osborne suggests, "the husband/son/brother that he thinks Lady Marchmain deserves" (7), despite the number of crises that arise among his siblit~qs, particular!~' Sebastian's alcoholism and Julia's engagement to Rex Mottram, and despite the fact that ;,.,, is kept from his rightful position as heir to Brideshead by the maliciousness of his father who is p8renn;2,lly bent on foiling Lady Ma,chmain's desires, Brideshead n8ver loses his temper or his composure. Firm :n his faith, Bridey emulates the patience of Jesus, Job, and the saints. 4 On the other hand, he is solitary in nwny senses. First, he is often apart from the rest of the 'amily, rarely taking part in their games or discussions. Second, his amusements are primarily solitary -- playing Patience and collect'ng match boxes. Third, be is set apart from the other characters because he is, as Osborne argues, "lacking in charm," and "conventional," "stolid," "uninspiring," "clumsy," and "insensitive" (7). Finally, his solitarines;, is noted by the other characters ~~ terms of his peculiarity. Anthony Blanche describes Brideshead 3S a peculiar and somewhat barbaric anachronism: "something archaic, out of a cave that's been sealed tor centuries" (54). Seb3stian says he is "queer": "... It you only knew, he's much the craziest of us, only it doesn't wme out at all. He's all twisted inside" (88). Rex f.~ottram refers to him as "a oort of half-baked monk" (176), a, 1d Julia notes the peculiar, solitary, ghost-like quality of Brides head's life:
Bridey leads his own extraordinary life . . . Bridey has two rooms up in the dome, next to Nanny Hawkins, part of the old nurseries. He's like a character from Chekhov. One meets him sometimes coming out of the library or on the stairs -- I never know when he's at home -- and now and then he suddenly comes in to dinner like a ghost quite unexpectedly." (258)
In addition to U1ese Easter-time games, a number of games are mentioned during Cha-lc;s' next holiday visit with the Flyte-Marchmains at Christmas. The first game mentioned is Poker (151 ). Although the actual c&rd game is not being played, this reference to Poker reveals a great deal about the char&cter with whom it i3 associated. As noted in books oi games (Leeming 105, Foster 181 ), Poker is famous ior its elements of posturing, pretense and bluffing: likewise, as clearly expressed by the associa'c~on, Mr. Samgrass, though he succeeds tor a time in convincing Lady Marchmain that he is knowledgeable and trustworthy, becomes known for his posturing, pretense, and bluffing:
... it was plain to anyone with a poker sense that Mr. Samgrass held a very imperfect h:J.nd, and, as I watched him at tea, I began to suspect that he was not only bluffing but cheating. There was something he must say, and did not quite know how to say to Lady Marchmain about his doings over Christmas, but, more that that, I guessed, there was a great deal he ought to say and had no intention at all of saying about the who:e Levantine tour. (151)
Not long after Poker is mentioned we are told that Julia and Rex play Bezique (168). Because tile history of this game is especially relevant for showing how Ryder sees both Julia and Rex in terms of class and motivation and for showing how the game supports and emphasizes key areas in the plot, a summary of its history follows.
In the early pRcks of cards, each of the suits represented one of the four social classes of the life of the Middle Ages. The nobility were represented by swords, which later became our Spades. The churchmen were represented by cups, which were later turned into Hearts. The merchant class was represented by staves, which later became Clubs (Leeming 9-1 0). As soon as the suits began to represent professions ... , these personifications became reflected in superiorities of certain suits over the others, depending on the locality, the one represented by the clergy ... generally being regarded as dominant. A democratic revolution elevated the lowly Spade to precedence . . . . Similarly, the merchant's 10 reached a high rank in many games (the order of rank in Bezique is Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack of trumps] . . . . Another early and ine'Jitable personification regarded the courts cards, Queen, King, and Jack, as human beings, subject to human conventions and emotions. This appeared first in the ancient showdown game of Matrimony, in which any King and Queen represented Matrimony; any Queen and Knave (Jack), Intrigue; and any King and Knave, Confederacy. Again by j merchant predominance, the Diamond Ace is the highest card in this game .... [T]his group (bezique) borrowed from Matrimony the idea of Marriage, Royal Marriage and Bezique or Pinochle -- the Queen of Spades and the Jack of Diamonds, surely an undeniable Intrigue. It is J interesting that the low-born Queen and the moneyed Knave are the participants in this. (Wood 174). ;, ;, Several things in this summary of the history of cards and the particular history of Bezique are revealing in terms of the novel. Hrst is the tight tor supremacy between suits. That the clergy-suit, Hearts, has become subordinate in general to the nobility-suit, Spades, is indicative of an overall subordination of religious ideals to
""-''·'"~ ... •0'-'!H"---' 5 secular ideals. Second, that the clergy-suit is in particular in this game subordinate to the merchant-suit, lJiamonds, foreshadows Julia's choice of marrying the areligious and very money-oriented Rex Mottram against the dictates of her religion. Third, that Spades should now be considered a lowly suit emphasizes Julia's OC'Sition as far as marriage possibilities go. While a member of the upper class, a noble, she is a Mr Catholic. As Robert Murray Davis argues, dE sa before the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965, they [Catholics] were less like other people then they have since become. In England, they had been much less like otiler people than elsewhere because they had been excluded, systematically and legally, from various kinds of political and social power from the mid-sixteenth century until 1829 . . . . (28)
Still, over one hundred years after 1829, the stigma of being a Catholic affects Julia's marriage choices: Tl
One subject eclipsed all others in importance for the ladies along the wall [who counted up the points]: D. whom would the young princess man·y? They could not hope for purer lineage or a more gracious Fl presence than Julia's; but there was this faint shadow on her that unfitted her !or the highest honours; N there was also her reiigion ... [H]er religion stood as a barrier between her and her natural goal. (181) Fr H Fourth, the scoring in the game of Bezique for the various combinations foreshadows the drop in Julia's (t social status that will occur when Julia marrie3s Rex. Even though Ryder insists that "[n]othin~ could have H been further from Julia's ambitions that a royal marriage" (181 ), such a Royal Marriage in Bezique is B considered a Class A or top-class combination. The Bezique that Julia achieves, though worth the same forty L; points as a Royal Marriage, is nonetheless a Class B combinat'c~. Lr And finally, as much as the game foreshadows Julia's drop in social status and emphasizes her 0 subordination of religious to secular ;,1terests, the game also highlights Rex Mottram's character and motivation. His depiction as a kna'Ja of diamonds underscores his basic desires lor social position and money. The next card game mentior,ed, chemin-de-fer, which Rex teaches Julia to play, is also revealing of S elements in its players' natures. :Similar to Black Jack, chemin-de-fer is a betting game with its object being to \~ beat the riealar/banker by having cards whose value more nearly approaches 8 to 9 than do the banker's VI cards (Wood 282). The idea of ma!
.r' ·,<'"•'' '•' 6 t' Rex's girls, hearing them gossip, rattling endlessly on the backgammon board while the men play cards n and smoke cigars." (258) s a More darkly, Backgammon becomes a symbol for the passage of time. Remarkably similar to Prufrock's def3cription of measuring his life in coffee spoons, Julia's depiction of the game of Backgammon evokes the same feeling as Prufrock's, the feeling of living a iutile, pointless, empty life:
"Past A.nd future; the years when I was trying to be a good wife, in the cigar smoke, while time crept on and the counters clicked on the backgammon board, and the man who was 'dummy at the men's table filled the glasses ..." (287)
This article will be continued in the next issue.) Works Cited Davis, Robert Murray. Brideshead Revisited: The Past Redeemed. Boston: Twayne, 1990. Flexner, Stuart Berg, ed. Random House Dictionarv of the Enolish Language. 2nd ed. Unabridged. New York: Random, 1983. Foster, R. F. Foster's Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of Games. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1963. Hinchcliffe, Peter. "Fathers and Children in the novels of Evelyn Waugh." University of Toronto Quarter!)' 35.3 3 (April 1966): 302-07. 3 Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Trans. Leyden. s B0ston: Beacon, 1955. y Lane, Calvin W. Evelyn Waugh. TEAS Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981. Leeming, Joseph. Games with Playing Cards Plus Tricks and Stunts. New York: Franklin Watts, 1949. ·r Osborne, John. "The Character of Bridey." The Evelvn Waugh Newsletter and Studies 27.2 (Fall1893): 7-8. j "The Character of Cara in Brides head Revisited." -;; 1e Evelyn Waugh Newsletter and Studies 26.2 (Fall1 992): 3-4. ,f Scarne, John. Scarne's Encyclopedia of Games. New York: Harper, 1973. 0 Waugh, .l':veiyn. Brideshead Revisited. 1945. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979. s Wood, Clement and Gloria Goddard. The Complete Book of Games. Garden City: Halcyon House, 1940. e EVELYN WAUGH: A SUPPLEMEt·fi'ARY CHECKLIST OF CRITICISM e By Gerhard Wblk >f (University of Wuppertal, Germany) This is a continuation of the earlier checklists, published in Evelyn Waugh Newsletter and Studles (EWNS). It 8 includes books and articles published since 1994, as well as some items omitted from precious lists. s Allen, Brooke, "Vile Bodies: A Futul'ist Fantasy", Twentieth Century Literature, 40.3 ('1994), 318-28. a Bogaards, vVinnifred M., "Evelyn Waugh's England: Class in Decline and Fall", Swansea Review (1994), y 129-38. Boss, Joyce Elaine, "The politics of post-colonialism: Africa, the West, and critical representation", Unpu~. r, Doct. Diss. (Univ. of California, Los Angeles, 1995); DAI, 56 (1 996), 3944-A. n Cevasco, G.A., "Waugh, Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement", EWNS, 29.2 (1995), 6-8. Davis, Robert Murray, "Anglo-American impasse: Catholic novel and Catholic c.:;nsor", Dalhousie Review, .e 72.4 (1993), 467-Bi. ·e Davis, Robert Murray, "Waugh on the World-Wide Web", EWNS, 30.1 (1996), 6. )f Doyle, Paul A., "A Proof Copy of tv~ en at Arms", EWNS, 29.3 (1 995), 8. :e Doyle, Paui A., "Textual Changes Involving Lord Kilbannock", EWNS, 29.3 (1 995), 4-5. Ferguson, La.ura Eileen, "American subdominant: the collapse of identity into im3ge in the post-war American 1e novels and films of European emigre writers and directors" Unpub. Doct. Diss. (Univ. of California, Los of Angeles, 1992}, DA1, 53 (1993), 3212-A. /The Loved One/. ly Gilchrist, K. James, "World War I and the early novels of Evelyn Waugh", Unpub. Doct. Diss (Univ. of Kansas, 1 995): PAl, 56 (1995), 2692-A. Grr:;at Writers of the E'nglish Language: Satirists and Humorists: Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, Evelyn Waugh, />.!dous Huxley (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1987, 1989, 1991 ). Reviewed by Robert Murray Davis, EWNS< 29.3 (1 995), 7-8. 7 Greenidge, Terence, Evelyn Waugh in Letters. ed. by Charles Linck (Commerce: The Cow Hill P.-ns, 1994). Reviewed by John Howard Wilson, EWNS. 29.3 (1 995), 6-7. th Hallett, Chqrles, "A Twitch upon the Thread", r-Jew Oxford Review. 61.9 (1994), 19-22. IBrideshE'o.d_ and '11 Catholicism/. Hastings, Selir,a, Evelyn Waugh: A Bioor8phy. Reviewed by Humphrey Carpenter, "Lord of the Manner", Bl Tr,, Sunday Times Books, 30 Oct 1994, 5; John Howard Wilson, EWNS, 29.3 (1995), 5-6. Hennessy, Edmund A., "The Farthing Dinner in Brideshead", EWrJS, 29.2 (i995), 1-2. Higdon, David Leon, "Gay Sebastian and Cheerful Charles:· Homoeroticism in Waugh's Brides)Jead Revi'i_iter;!", ARIEL (Calgary), 25.4 (1994; 77-89. Jemielity, Thomas, "Evelyn Waugh's ( . •. :· ''The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717, 1735)", EWNS_, 28.J (1995), 2-4. Johnson, R. Neill, "Shadowed by the Gaze: Evelyn Waugh's Vile Boc]ie§ and The Ordeal of Silbert >'':1fplq", Modern Language Review, 91.1. (1996), 9-19. Lassner, Phyllis, "'Between the Gaps': Sex, Class and Anarchy in the British Comic Novel of World War W, f:;: Gail Finney (ed.), Look Who's Laughing: Gender and Comedy (Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach, 1994), B 205-i 9. /Put Out More Flags/. Loss, Archie., "Vile Bodies, Vorticism, and Italian Futurism", Journal of Modern Literature, 18 1 (18S2), 155-64. i' Lynch, Richard P ., "Evelyn Waugh's Early Novels: The Limits of Fiction", Papers on Language and Litera. lure, s 30.4 (1994), 373-86. McCartney, George, Satire between the Wars: Evelyn Waugh and Others", in: John Richetti et ai. (eds.), a The Columbia History 6f the British Novel (New York: Columbia UP, 1994), 867-' t. e Manley, .Jeffrey A., "Evelyn Waugh as a Fictional Character'', EWNS, 30.1 (1996), 1-6. p Miles, Peter, "Evelyn Waugh's Illustrations for Decline and Fall", in: William Marx et £!. (eds.) The World and is the Visual imagin?tion (Lampeter, wa:es: St. David's Univ. of College, 1989), 54-57. h Morefield, John, "The .Athlete as Antagonist in the Writings of Evelyn Waugh", Aethlon. The Journal of Sport tr Literature, 7.2 (1 990), 1-12. Oliveir2., Solange Ribeiro de, "Utopia and Anti utopia in the Brazilian Jungle: Waugh's A Handful of Dust", in: B Anna Houskova, Martin Prochazka (eds.), Utopias de! Nuevo Mundo Prague: Charles Univ., 1993), 247-55. Osborne, John W., "The Char?.cter of Cordelia in Brideshead Revisited", EWNS, 29.3 ( 995), i -2. fc Stannard, Martin,· Evelyn Waugh: No Abiding C_ity. Reviewed by Isabel Murray, Qhesterton Review, 19.2 ir (i 993), 229-32. e Thomas, B. E., "The use of dialogue in the comic novels of Ronald Firbank, P.G. Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh e and Henry Green", Unpul:>. Doct. Diss. (Manchester, 1994); Index to Theses 45.1 (1996), item 45-251. Wilson, John Howard, "Sykes and Carew as Biographers", EWNS, 29.2 (1995), 2--1.
BRENDA LAST'S READING By Robert Murray Davis (University of Oklahoma) a In A Handful of Dust, alone in London after Tony's departure for Brazil, Brenda Last reads "a biography. . . P that had l?tely a,_,paar:-J." :~. the Ar:1crican edition (Little, Brown, p. 249), it is a biography of Thiers, the s French politician wl• , flc-~r;:~ BRIEF NOTES A recent English review of a new biography of H.G. Weli;; by Michael Foot remarks: "Foot clearly loves Wells, and, ddmires his work, and the wholeness of Wells is here." It is a shame the same could not be saici of Sykes' ?. BOOK REVIEW The Health Mount Register 1865-i 992. Ed.P.T. Streeter: Hertford: Quadrant Offset, Riverside House, 1995, 136 pp., .£15 plus.£1.50 post and packin!), or $24 plus $2 post and packing. Copies available from the Secretary, Heath Mount School, Woodhall Park, Watton-at- Stone, Hurtfordshire, SG14 3NG, England. This is actually an alumni directory listing the students who attended the school during the various years and terms: Lent, Summer, Spring, Winter. The names are listed c.lphabetically according to the year, and each entry gives basic biographical facts. Some commentary is presented by and about SDIT'3 of the more prominent figures such as Waugh and Cecil Beaton. There is no new information about Waugh. This volume is designed for Heath Mount faculty, alumni, and students. It is a handsomely printed 9Y2 x 7 paperback, and has several photos of various classes, as well as pictures of some of the more famous graduates, including the photo of Waugh in his World War II uniform. (P.A. Doyle) BACK BAY BOOKS New printings of Wau!Jh paperbacks appear with this designation. An inquiry to Little, Brown produced the following response: "Back Bay Books is a trade paperback imprint that we launched a few years ago. The imprint publishers literary fiction and serious works of non-fiction (Science, history, biography, social issues, etc.) as distinct from our Little, Brown paperbacks that are more pragmatic (i.e. nature guides, cookbooks, etc.)." The Evelyn Waugh Newsletter and Studies, designed to stimulate research and continue interest in the life and writings of Evelyn Waugh, is published 'three times a year in April, September and December (Spring, Autumn, and Winter numbers). Subscription rate $8.00 a year. Single copy $4.00 Checks and money orders should be made payable to the Evelyn Waugh Newsletter. Overseas subscriptions must be paid in US funds: MO, check, or cash. Notes, brief essays, and new items about Waugh and his work may be submitted, but manuscripts cannot be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Address all correspondence to Dr. P.A. Doyle, English Dept., Nassau Community College, State University of New York, Garden City, N.Y. 11530. · Editorial Board- Editor: P.A. Doyle; Associate Editors: Winnifred M. Bogaards (University of New Brunswick); Alfred W. Borrello (Kingsborough Community College); Robert M. Davis (Univ. of Oklahoma); Heinz Kosak (Univ. of Wuppertal); Charles E. Linck, Jr. (East Texas State Univ.). Bibliographical Editor: Gerha~d Walk (Univ. of Wuppertal).