The Sheila Variations

"The most ill-natured interview ever"

... with Evelyn Waugh... available at last. Marvelous!!

One quote of many:

I clearly can’t make myself understood. There is no such thing as a man in the street. There is no ordinary run of mankind, there are only individuals who are totally different. And whether a man is naked and black and stands on one foot in Sudan or is clothed in some kind of costume in a bus in England, they are still individuals of entirely different characters.

He is asked what faults he would excuse in others. He replies:

"Drunkenness." Any others? "Em [long pause] ... anger. Lust. Dishonouring their father and mother. Coveting their neighbour's ox, ass, wife. Killing. I think there's almost nothing I can't excuse except perhaps worshipping graven images. That seems to be idiotic."

I ADORE him. I still count reading Scoop as one of the funnest (and funniest) reading experiences I have ever had. I remember sitting on the bus, going home, surrounded by people, and I started snorting, tears of laughter streaming - yes, streaming! - down my face, and I could no longer see the page and had to put the book down for a bit, to just guffaw like a maniac, all by myself.

From Baroque in Hackney.

Speaking of Evelyn Waugh, here is Ted's review of Bright Young Things.

Posted by sheila | TrackBack