Why you do not 'get' Waugh...

The Llamas point us to a 1962 review of Men At Arms (Sword of Honour Trilogy) by Joan Dideon. Ms. Dideon highlights the disconnect between Waugh and American readers, or put another way, why American readers fail to understand Waugh's writing. Something that Waugh himself noted during his lifetime. I would also like to point toward the disconnect between Catholic and non-Catholic readers of Waugh. Most non-Catholics do not see, or seem to understand the the Catholic world view underpinning Waugh's work. This is most readily apparent when one reads (all to often) something like: "Unlike the early novels, with Brideshead Waugh's work stops being black humor and becomes Catholic snob fantasy, etc.". Look again, if you read and understand the earlier novels, Waugh's Catholic world view is there, hiding just below the black and slightly behind the humor. Ms. Dideon makes an excellent point about the ability of writers of Waugh's stature to write a novel on three levels and combine it seamlessly into one story. She writes: "One of the virtues of the hard mind is that it can deal simultaneously with an individual, his God, and his society, neither lighting nor magnifying the subtle, delicate pressures each exerts upon the others. (American novelists are on the whole incapable of this kind of thing. With the exception of Henry James, they have been determinists at heart — or very lazy.)"...So start re-reading now!