My book group read Vile Bodies (1930) by Evelyn Waugh – his second novel, and the fifth one I’ve read by him. I have a mixed history with Waugh, and this one hasn’t helped clear things up much.
The novel focuses upon a young man called Adam – a journalist who is engaged to Nina – who is trying to make his way in the world, and to gather together the money to afford a wedding. Around him there are an astonishing number of characters, most of whom are aboard a sea voyage in the opening, confusing pages of the novel. There is Mrs Melrose Ape and her gaggle of ‘angels’ with wings, called Chastity, Charity, and the like. There’s a Jesuit priest we don’t hear much from afterwards. There is Agatha Runcible, a bizarre and mildly hysterical character. There’s all manner of other people who come and go, without much certainty.
Adam is an outsider in the world he tries to enter – sometimes as a gossip columnist, sometimes as a gentleman. His attempts to get money go disastrously wrong, miraculously right, and back again, over and over – with a drunken Major playing a significant role in all these moments. And the people Adam is observing are the Bright Young Things of the 1920s – ‘Bright Young Things’ was the original title of the novel, and the title of the film adaptation, and Waugh has good fun mocking their insouciance and inconsequentiality.
But inconsequence is a hallmark of Waugh’s novels in general, and it’s my sticking point with them. Actions never have moral consequences. People routinely ruin each other’s lives for no reason, and don’t give it a second thought – which is one of my least favourite things in fiction. I don’t mind dark humour, and if people’s hubris or sheer accident mean disaster happens, I can chuckle at it. But those who selfishly destroy other lives without reason – well, I don’t find it funny even when it’s satire, and that rather spoils the joke for me. One gets the sense that Waugh isn’t a terribly nice person.
Having said that, there are other moments I found very amusing (hence the conflict!) The on-again-off-again wedding was dealt with enjoyably. Nina’s father – Colonel Blount – never recognises Adam, and is always saying how much better his prospective son-in-law is than the other suitors he’s met (all of whom are Adam). And Waugh has a brilliant way with a turn of phrase – such as:
She wore a frock such as only duchesses can obtain for their elder daughters, a garment curiously puckered and puffed up and enriched with old lace at improbable places, from which her pale beauty emerged as though from a clumsily tied parcel.
Waugh’s style is recognisably his, but there is also a heck of a lot of Ronald Firbank in here. (I felt rather chuffed that I thought this, as I learned in the afterword that Waugh also thought this – though the sycophantic editor of my edition, Richard Jacobs, disputes it.) Firbank had jumpy narratives, lots of dialogue, and a lack of clarity about what was going on – and all this appears in Vile Bodies.
Of the five Waugh novels I’ve read (Put Out More Flags, The Loved One, Scoop, Decline and Fall, and Vile Bodies) I really like The Loved One, and very much enjoyed Scoop. And I really disliked Decline and Fall and Put Out More Flags, for their intense spitefulness. Vile Bodies is the Waugh novel that falls most in the middle of my spectrum – I relished the bits I found amusing, recoiled from those I didn’t, and spent most of the first 50 pages not having a clue what was going on.
I loved “The Loved One” too but I don’t think I ever finished “Vile Bodies”. I think I find myself quite unsure as to how to deal with Waugh at times!
“People routinely ruin each other’s lives for no reason, and don’t give it a second thought – which is one of my least favourite things in fiction.”
It sounds alarmingly as if you ‘ve no objection to it in reality!
I’ve struggled with Evelyn Waugh as well for the same reason. However, I have enjoyed books by his brother Alec. His work isn’t as well known and many don’t consider him as good an author as Evelyn but I found his books much more relatable and enjoyable. Evelyn just seems nasty to me most of the time. I would definitely recommend trying something by Alec Waugh. You might enjoy him much more.
It has occurred to me that perhaps Evelyn Waugh was a little too well-embedded in the society and class he often satirises, so there is a cold streak in him which is disquieting. I think Brideshead Revisited is his most tender and feeling, but even there…
Our book group had the same reaction to Vile Bodies as you. Not his finest.
I really liked Vile Bodies, though A Handful of Dust had already convinced me that Evelyn Waugh was a seriously unpleasant person. That ending still makes me shudder.
I’ve never understood why A Handful of Dust is considered funny. I thought it was really tragic. It’s been a long time since I read it, and I had just started seriously reading classics, so I may have misinterpreted it.
I can’t even remember this one but according to Goodreads I only gave it two stars, so I must not have liked it much. I also liked Scoop and I remember finding Decline and Fall really funny. I did find a used copy at the bookstore here so I may have to reread it and see if I still like it.
I did try to read The Loved One a few years ago but our dog had just died recently so I could not get past the first chapter. I may have to give it another try someday.
I very much agree with you on this book, which is my least favourite by Waugh, and your objections to it are beautifully expressed, you put it much better than I did.
My favourite Waugh book is the collected correspondence of Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford, which would be one of my Desert Island Discs. I cannot take it down from the shelf and open it without ending up reading hundreds of pages…
That should say Desert Island Books!
Now that you have read the book, you should see the film Bright Young Things. Lovely, fun movie with a fabulous performance by Fenella Woolgar.
Interesting! I’ve only heard bad things about it – Stephen Fry was rather mocked here for directing it when it came out – so much more likely to check it out now!