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Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh

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Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh Decline and Fall Decline and Fall is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel. Decline and Fall is based in part on Waugh's schooldays at Lancing College, undergraduate years at Hertford College, Oxford, and his experience as a teacher at Arnold House in north Wales.[1] It is a social satire that employs the author's characteristic black humour in lampooning various features of British society in the 1920s. The novel's title is a contraction of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The title alludes also to the German philosopher Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West (1918–1922), which first appeared in an English translation in 1926 and which argued, among other things, that the rise of nations and cultures is inevitably followed by their eclipse. Waugh read both Gibbon and Spengler while writing his first novel.[2] Waugh's satire is unambiguously hostile to much that was in vogue in the late 1920s, and "themes of cultural confusion, moral disorientation and social bedlam...both drive the novel forward and fuel its humour."[3] This "undertow of moral seriousness provides a crucial tension within [Waugh's novels], but it does not dominate them."[4] Waugh himself stated boldly in his 'Authors Note' to the first edition: 'Please bear in mind throughout that IT IS MEANT TO BE FUNNY.' Plot summary Modest and unassuming theology student Paul Pennyfeather falls victim to the drunken antics of the Bollinger Club and is subsequently expelled from Oxford for running through the grounds of Scone College without his trousers. Having thereby defaulted on the conditions of his inheritance, he is forced to take a job teaching at an obscure public school in Wales called Llanabba, run by Dr Fagan. Attracted to the wealthy mother of one of his pupils, Pennyfeather becomes private tutor to her boy, Peter, and then engaged to be married to her—the Honourable Mrs Margot Beste-Chetwynde (who later becomes "Lady Metroland," and appears in Waugh's other novels).[5] Pennyfeather, however, is unaware that the source of her income is a number of high-class brothels in South America. Arrested on the morning of the wedding, after running an errand for Margot related to her business, Pennyfeather takes the fall to protect his fiancée's honour and is sentenced to seven years in prison for traffic in prostitution. Margot marries another man with government ties and he arranges for Paul to fake his own death and escape. In the end he returns to where he started at Scone. He studies under his own name, having convinced the college that he is the distant cousin of the Paul Pennyfeather who was sent down previously. The novel ends as it started, with Paul sitting in his room listening to the distant shouts of the Bollinger Club. This is Waugh's first book, and one of his finest. This is an absurd story of a young man, expelled (or "sent down") from Oxford for indecent behaviour, who obtains a job as a teacher at a less than salubrious third-rate public school in Wales and is then entrapped in a series of bizarre events that take him on a rollercoaster ride through upper-class circles. The central character, Paul Pennyfeather, is a naive soul, full of gusto and enthusiasm, but lacking in common sense. The use of the term "sent down from Oxford" to describe his "decline" is lightweight in comparison to his subsequent "fall" (another type of being "sent down"); although I can't help feeling that in the world of the Oxbridge undergraduate, the expulsion from Oxford is the true fall in his life. I was a little disappointed by the latter half of the book, the rollercoaster speeds up, and it does feel rushed and a little too contrived by the final chapters. But this is Waugh's first novel, so a minor issue in the overall context of the amusing storylines and entertaining characters. Plot: I was so pleasantly surprised at my enjoyment of this book. I had not expected to find it as good or as easy to read as it ended up being. The plot follows the story of Paul Pennyweather who within the first 2 pages is forced to leave oxford university through no fault of his own. This leads him to starting a career in a boys school and ends up meeting a very important lady through this job. The plot was funny to say the lease. I love a school novel and this was an interesting one. It also gave a really clear idea on the life style of the 1920’s. There was a very similar tone to the great Gatsby but with less of a party lifestyle. The ending was brilliant I was so motivated to read those last few pages! Characters: Paul was a misfortunate character, things just kept happening to him. Like most of the characters in the book they had misfortune and the cards did not play out to them. Which felt lie to me a comment on the society at the time. Paul always had a really good humour to him and I enjoyed reading about him and his lack of complaining made me really idolize him. Favourite aspects: I liked the 3rd section mostly, it was a brilliant section to read. The writing of it was really descriptive and kept and easy tone to it. Making the whole novel a lot easier to read then I had anticipated. Themes: The main theme is the idea of society in the 1920’s, I love this era. So to read about it and to see how it effects different classes and views was really interesting. Structure: The 3 part structure was really nice, it showed clearly the significance of the 3 events in his life. The section where also more fun to read as you could see the shifts in class and how each time the event ended it was a significant point. This was Waugh's first novel and was received with great acclaim, even by my old favourite Arnold Bennett. However I find it like eating whipped cream. It goes down easy, but doesn't fill me up. Clearly I lack the required level of sensibility to appreciate Waugh. Which is to say an addiction to the riotous upper classes. If you think there is nothing better than a snazzily dissolute aristocrat then this is the satire for you. It romps from Bullingdon Club style antics at Oxford via cut price private schools, white slavery, prison and back again. The hero learns nothing, but is simply spun round full circle on Fortune's wheel. What is earnest is for Waugh laughable and comes in for punishment or abuse whether that be the League of Nations or Prison reformers. But the rakish, so long as they are blue-blooded, will survive and thrive. Being of a tragically earnest disposition myself Waugh sharpens my appreciation for Madame Guillotine as an agent for social improvement. But it would be a sad world if we all thought alike. According to the introduction to the Penguin edition, referring to his own work Waugh said ‘I regard writing not as investigation of character but as an exercise in the use of language, and with this I am obsessed. I have no technical psychological interest. It is drama, speech and events that interest me.’ Yet he is very precise in his depiction of English class conscious society. Witty, funny, and piercingly critical, it portrays in Paul Pennyfeather the stereotypical, quintessential English gentleman who sails effortless through life's up and downs (in this respect, the passing of Lord Tangent with no consequences for those involved is also a gem). The "cover story" is itself hilarious, with Paul's almost perfect composure providing a comedic counterpoint to the innumerable catastrophes befalling him and those around him. I can imagine how contemporaries must have loved and laughed at the myriad of clever references to the contemporary political and cultural elites. At the same time, society is severely reprimanded: from the justice system, to the press, to conventions and privilege, which I read all as different manifestations of the same "ill", the English class system. There are further reflections of what it all means - there are several references to suicide here and there, but also to some form of renewal, as in the many lives of Grimes, Philbrick and Fagan, not to mention Paul himself and Margot. And then there is Otto Silenus' simile between a Paris Luna Park ride and people notion of life ‘People don’t see that when they say “life” they mean two different things. They can mean simply existence, with its physiological implications of growth and organic change. They can’t escape that – even by death, but because that’s inevitable they think the other idea of life is too – the scrambling and excitement and bumps and the effort to get to the middle. And when we do get to the middle, it’s just as if we never started. It’s so odd. And is it different lives, or different identities? Paul's return to Scone as an unrecognised, new Mr Pennyfeather and his last conversation with Peter seem to come down for the latter. The writing is also beautiful throughout, carrying the reader effortlessly along, though at points Waugh seems to want to remind somewhat more explicitly how good he is at this Surely he had followed in the Bacchic train of distant Arcady, and played on the reeds of myth by forgotten streams, and taught the childish satyrs the art of love? Had he not suffered unscathed the fearful dooms of all the offended gods of all the histories – fire, brimstone and yawning earthquakes, plague and pestilence? Had he not stood, like the Pompeian sentry, while the Citadels of the Plain fell to ruin about his ears? Had he not, like some grease-caked Channel-swimmer, breasted the waves of the Deluge? Had he not moved unseen when darkness covered the waters? Evelyn Waugh's first novel, Decline and Fall, is a delightful satiric comedy.
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