Subject
Auberon Waugh: Book of the Century (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
EDITOR's NOTE. My e-mail has been behaving very strangely. If this (and
the following two postings are repetitions, my apologies.
---------------------------------
From: Chaswe@aol.com
----------------- Message requiring your approval (31 lines) ------------------
Auberon Waugh is Evelyn Waugh's son. He sprang into prominence when
practically still in his teens by publishing a novel, The Foxglove Saga,
hailed by many at the time as the equal of any of his father's early satires.
Since then (about 40 years ago) he has revelled in the public role of High
Pontiff of Political Incorrectness; the enfant terrible of English letters.
In selecting a few excerpts from his article I was not deliberately setting
out to provoke or mislead anyone, anticipating amusement rather than
high-horse indignation. It is not surprising that Waugh relishes Nabokov's
"perverse humour, irony and unexpectedness": these are traits for which he
might like to be known himself. But I should have realised that the English
are a funny lot, and that a little light Limey irony is no match for the big
guns of post-colonial earnestness. Perhaps I should have relayed the article
in its entirety --- it seemed rather too long, and I assumed that it would
be accessible to anyone with more than a passing interest.
My apologies for any inadvertent discomfiture I may have caused.
Good wishes to all, Charles HW
PS Would anyone like to join me in making out a case for Nabokov as
predominantly an English author, rather than a Russian or American?
EDITOR's NOTE. My e-mail has been behaving very strangely. If this (and
the following two postings are repetitions, my apologies.
---------------------------------
From: Chaswe@aol.com
----------------- Message requiring your approval (31 lines) ------------------
Auberon Waugh is Evelyn Waugh's son. He sprang into prominence when
practically still in his teens by publishing a novel, The Foxglove Saga,
hailed by many at the time as the equal of any of his father's early satires.
Since then (about 40 years ago) he has revelled in the public role of High
Pontiff of Political Incorrectness; the enfant terrible of English letters.
In selecting a few excerpts from his article I was not deliberately setting
out to provoke or mislead anyone, anticipating amusement rather than
high-horse indignation. It is not surprising that Waugh relishes Nabokov's
"perverse humour, irony and unexpectedness": these are traits for which he
might like to be known himself. But I should have realised that the English
are a funny lot, and that a little light Limey irony is no match for the big
guns of post-colonial earnestness. Perhaps I should have relayed the article
in its entirety --- it seemed rather too long, and I assumed that it would
be accessible to anyone with more than a passing interest.
My apologies for any inadvertent discomfiture I may have caused.
Good wishes to all, Charles HW
PS Would anyone like to join me in making out a case for Nabokov as
predominantly an English author, rather than a Russian or American?