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Modern Classics A Little Learning: The First Volume Of An Autobiography
by
Evelyn Waugh
A Little Learning The author's childhood was warm, bright and serene. The Hampstead and Lancing schooldays which followed were sometimes agreeable, but often not. His life at Oxford - which he evokes in Brideshead Revisited - was essentially a catalogue of friendship. This title presents a portrait of his recollection of those hedonistic days. Full description
paper
,
234 pages
Published
August 5th 2010
by Penguin Books Ltd
(first published 1964)
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Community Reviews
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Evelyn Waugh never completed his autobiography, unfortunately. This volume takes us through his first job after college, where on the last page, his attempt at suicide is thwarted by discovering jellyfish in the seawater, so of course he can't stay in. This dark humor and self-deprecation runs through his fond and wry narrative of his early years.
We meet many of the archetypes in his books, naturally, from his youth and education; much of his college experience is repeated with little change in ...more
We meet many of the archetypes in his books, naturally, from his youth and education; much of his college experience is repeated with little change in ...more
May 06, 2009
Sherwood Smith
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
autobiography
I don't know why Waugh never finished this--I strongly suspect he came up against the reality of his intense gay romances, and couldn't slide over the surface, yet of course couldn't talk about them. Anyway, for sheer beauty, the prose when he describes the various places of learning and what they meant to him are some of his very best.
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I fairly enjoyed reading this memoir since, of course, there were related characters and episodes he had to describe. I think his readers can learn and know a lot of figurative words, for instance, nagging debts, Asiatics abounded, frustrated pugnacity, etc.
My Former Review:
When I first saw the book title, it reminded me of a quote by Alexander Pope, "A little learning is a dangerous thing," and I still think this is a wise one worth reflecting and thus keeping in mind to be aware of our own lea ...more
My Former Review:
When I first saw the book title, it reminded me of a quote by Alexander Pope, "A little learning is a dangerous thing," and I still think this is a wise one worth reflecting and thus keeping in mind to be aware of our own lea ...more
This delightful autobiographical account of his youth, ending with Evelyn Waugh walking off after not drowning himself after all - turning back after being stung by a jellyfish - should probably be read *before* Paula Byrne's biography "Mad World". Much background to "Brideshead revisited" of course, in his own - surprisingly candid as well as witty - words. Although only mentioned in passing, I didn't know that Waugh counted G. K. Chesterton and Graham Greene among his friends. Given recent hig
...more
If you love Waugh you will enjoy his autobiography. Such a shame memoirists like this have disappeared and a pity Waugh died before authoring subsequent volumes. Though he is discreet in his tellings, one can glean much of the man, his milieu and his many associations.
Mar 05, 2012
Tim
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
modern-british-fiction
,
nonfiction
"Today...there are reporters of the popular papers who interview authors rather than review their work; there are the charmers of television; there are the state-trained professional critics with their harsh jargon and narrow tastes, and there are the impostors who cannot write at all, but travel from one international congress to another discussing the predicament of the writer in the modern world."
c 1968
"An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not ...more
c 1968
"An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not ...more
Such a pity he never finished a real biography
May 31, 2013
Mark Nenadov
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
british-literature
,
biographical
This is the first and only volume of an unfinished autobiography. It masterfully covers Waugh's youth, including his genealogy, parent's life, early upbringing, school boy days, days at Oxford, and his working life as a young adult. While it isn't a book I'd re-read, it was a pleasure to read and I'm glad I read it. On rare occasions, it got slightly tedious, but there were quite a few excellent nuggets to make up for that.
If you're into Waugh enough to want to read about his life, you'll enjoy this. He brings his characteristic wit and irony to the narration, especially in his masterful depiction of the various characters in his life, but he seems only tepidly enthusiastic about the project (which went unfinished) and it's nowhere near as much fun as his novels.
I read this autobiography without having read in Waugh fiction. I tremendously enjoyed it. Why this is not more highly recommended reading, I do not know. I went to Evelyn Waugh's house in Oxford, essentially only because I was there and knew his name from a joke in the movie "Lost in Translation". If that's all you know, read this book!
I would definately recommend this to all Waugh fans.
Don't be put off by chapter one, it goes through his family tree, and although some may have enjoyed it, I found it one of the most boring things I've ever read. The rest of the book is splendid though, so I forgive him.
Don't be put off by chapter one, it goes through his family tree, and although some may have enjoyed it, I found it one of the most boring things I've ever read. The rest of the book is splendid though, so I forgive him.
If you're a Waugh fan, this is a real tgreat. His acerbic wit and close eye for foibles, including his own, are present throughout the book. And it is very apparent that Waugh did much more than a little learning during his youth.
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Evelyn Waugh's father Arthur was a noted editor and publisher. His only sibling Alec also became a writer of note. In fact, his book “The Loom of Youth” (1917) a novel about his old boarding school Sherborne caused Evelyn to be expelled from there and placed at Lancing College. He said of his time there, “…the whole of English education when I was brought up was to produce prose writers; it was al
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“Only when one has lost all curiosity about the future has one reached the age to write an autobiography.”
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