What do You think about The Complete Stories Of Evelyn Waugh (2000)?
This volume contains not only all the pieces of fiction of less than book length that Evelyn Waugh published commercially but also those that he wrote as a boy in school and those that he published as a young man at the University of Oxford. The commercially published pieces include such grim gems as "Bella Fleace Gave a Party," "Winner Takes All," the horrifying "The Man Who Loved Dickens," and the late pieces "Scott-King's Modern Europe" and "Basil Seal Rides Again." The juvenilia begin with "The Curse of the Horse Race," an amusingly misspelled narrative in nine chapters on three pages, which Waugh wrote (scrawled, one imagines) as a small boy. By the time that Waugh is a senior boy in school, writing the apparently autobiographical "Fragment of a Novel," he has learned how to turn a sentence and how to write credible dialogue. The satirical artist first emerges in "Portrait of Young Man with Career," the earliest of the "Oxford Stories," though it is not until "A House of Gentlefolks," the second story that he published commercially (in 1927), that he appears to have worked out what sort of writer he is.
—Miles Rind
There’s certainly no need for me to expound upon Evelyn Waugh’s greatness as a writer here. The reputation of the author of “Brideshead Revisited”, “Put Out More Flags” and “The Loved One” is quite secure—for the moment. And who else would be drawn to a book of his short stories but a fan? Still, there’s plenty to recommend “The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh.” His original take on the short story (“The Balance”), his jarring surprises (“The Man Who Liked Dickens”, Mr. Loveday’s Little Outing”, “The Sympathetic Passenger”), and even Science Fiction (“Love Among The Ruins”) are represented here. I especially liked the 1st two chapters (“My Father’s House” and “Lucy Simmonds”) of an unfinished novel. The book also includes stories from Waugh’s formative years, which are interesting in that they have all the elements that would later characterize a Waugh story, no matter what the length. Never have 607 pages flown by so quickly—or enjoyably.
—Michael
Waugh's work is shocking and hilarious. I only wish he could return briefly and leave us something on the politically correct. But as that will surely not come to pass, I must say, that this volume is a great footnote, to the god of caustic disdain, to be read in bits and pieces – and again and again. I began reading these short stories months and months ago, then the book got packed for moving and I just recently unpacked it and began reading it again. Of course, I had to reread the stories I had already read so long ago!For anyone who enjoys the taste of elegant prose laced with sparkling wit, "The Complete Short Stories of Evelyn Waugh" deserves a place that is both prominent and permanent in one's well-stocked storehouse of vintage literature – this coming from someone whose library does not particularly “like” short stories!
—Carol
