Mad World
A few years after publishing his most sentimental and autobiographical novel, 鈥�Brideshead Revisited,鈥� in 1945, Evelyn Waugh satirized its plot in his prizewinning war trilogy, 鈥淪word of Honour,鈥� referring to it as 鈥淪hakespearian in its elaborate improbability.鈥� The truth, however, as Paula Byrne makes vividly clear in Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, is that the real story behind Waugh鈥檚 top-selling novel is even more fantastic than his fictionalized distillation.
Byrne鈥檚 engaging book will resonate especially for those who fondly remember Granada Television鈥檚 consummate 1981 adaptation of 鈥淏rideshead Revisited,鈥� featuring Jeremy Irons, Sir Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, and Sir John Gielgud.
鈥淢ad World鈥� is part of what Byrne flags as a growing 21st-century trend in literary biography toward the 鈥減artial life鈥� 鈥� as opposed to 鈥渢he heavily footnoted biographical doorstopper [which] had its heyday in the second half of the 20th century.鈥� Freed from 鈥渢he shackles of comprehensiveness,鈥� biographers explore their subjects via a seminal theme, year, or event. The result, at least in this case, is more streamlined and focused, but still remarkably thorough.
Byrne, the author of 鈥淧erdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson鈥� and 鈥�Jane Austen and the Theatre,鈥� embarked on 鈥淢ad World鈥� determined to correct what she considered to be Waugh鈥檚 persistent misrepresentation 鈥渁s a snob and a curmudgeonly misanthropist.鈥� She marshals friends鈥� testimonials and previously unpublished letters to resurrect both his literary and personal standing.
In the course of her research, Byrne realized that 鈥渉is relationship with a single family: the Lygons of Madresfield ... provided a key that could unlock the door into Waugh鈥檚 inner world.鈥�
Waugh, like the narrator pf 鈥淏rideshead,鈥� Charles Ryder, was born into a middle-class family in 1903. His father worked in publishing. Both attended second-tier boarding schools, and then Oxford in the early 1920s on scholarship. Waugh was unhappy there until a friend introduced him to the Hypocrites, a drinking club whose elite members were high-spirited in every sense of the word.
Among Waugh鈥檚 intimates was the charming, heavy-drinking Hugh Lygon, second son of the seventh Earl of Beauchamp 鈥� a model for Sebastian Flyte in the novel, who also succumbs to alcoholism. Byrne posits that he was one of Waugh鈥檚 three homosexual relationships at Oxford. Drawn to beautiful, fragile boys 鈥� and later, beautiful, fragile women 鈥� Waugh considered homosexuality a passing phase in his development. Byrne examines the 鈥渟ecret that dared not speak its name,鈥� particularly prevalent at all-male schools, with sensitivity and more than passing consideration.
Unlike his aristocratic friends, Waugh needed to earn a living after leaving Oxford. After a short stint teaching, he followed his older brother Alec 鈥� who had published a bestselling novel while still in his teens 鈥� by creating a splash with his very first novel. 鈥淒ecline and Fall鈥� captured the zeitgeist of the disaffected 鈥渂right young things鈥� of his generation, caught between two great wars.
Throughout his life, Waugh retreated from society periodically to either gather material or write. He was enormously prolific, turning out a book every year or so, including such trenchant novels as 鈥淰ile Bodies鈥� and 鈥�A Handful of Dust,鈥� several prize-winning biographies, and books about his dangerous travel adventures in Africa, the Arctic, and South America.
For more than a decade 鈥� until his 1937 marriage 鈥� Waugh did not maintain a home but instead bounced among friends. Chief among these were Hugh Lygon鈥檚 sisters, Sibell, Mary (Maimie), and Dorothy (Coote), whom he befriended in 1931 and stayed close to until his death in 1966. Madresfield Court, their imposing ancestral estate in Worcestershire, was affectionately called 鈥淢ad鈥� 鈥� hence Byrne鈥檚 title.
As another friend, writer Nancy Mitford, commented after first reading 鈥淏rideshead,鈥� it was, 鈥淪o true to life being in love with a whole family.鈥� As smitten as he was with Hugh and his sisters, Waugh was also taken with their cultivated father. He was much affected by Lord Beauchamp鈥檚 plight: a leading liberal politician forced into exile for homosexuality. (In 鈥淏rideshead,鈥� the source of Lord Marchmain鈥檚 disgrace was altered to an exotic mistress.)
Among the papers Byrne gained access to for the first time is Countess Beauchamp鈥檚 1932 petition for divorce, which had been sealed through 2032 and which explicitly spells out her husband鈥檚 many homosexual liaisons 鈥� at a time when homosexuality was still a crime subject to prosecution in England.
As Byrne makes clear, Madresfield was Waugh鈥檚 Arcadia, encapsulating his 鈥渟earch for an ideal family鈥� and his lifelong 鈥渢heme of exile and exclusion.鈥� Waugh鈥檚 world changed irrevocably with World War II 鈥� which explains the elegiac nostalgia that suffuses 鈥淏rideshead.鈥� Deftly interweaving biographical details and textual analysis, Byrne makes the connections between Waugh鈥檚 art, Roman Catholic faith, and life dance.
Heller McAlpin, a freelance critic in New York, is a frequent Monitor contributor.
