THERE are two striking aspects of this BBC rebroadcast of a 1960 interview with the British writer Evelyn Waugh, which was sent to me by a reader.

First, there is the stunning misrepresentation of the interview by Joan Bakewell, who introduces the rebroadcast with utterly false charges of rudeness and hostility on the part of Waugh, and similar mischaracterization of the writer by John Freeman, the original interviewer, who had posed a number of antagonistic questions to Waugh and accuses him of nervousness that is nowhere to be found. Why do they seem eager to attribute rudeness and even mental instability to the author? Is it their own egotism, their search for a titillating angle, or is there something else at stake?

Secondly, there is the interview itself, which is a memorable and fascinating glimpse of the author, who is open, candid and succinct, his lucid thoughts traveling visibly across a pudgy, Anglo-Saxon face devoid of conceit and concealment. Waugh says there is only one reason why he agreed to be interviewed on TV: poverty. Not many celebrities would admit to the financial self-interest in publicity.

Waugh remembers fondly the instruction his mother gave him before he went to school and being read to as a child, recalls the harshness of life at a British boarding school during World War I and briefly discusses his conversion to Catholicism. I highly recommend the whole thing.

— Comments —

Donna Isler writes:

Thank you so much for introducing me to this fascinating man through the interview video. Two of my favorite quotes are, paraphrasing from memory, that any man who has made money in the last 20 years is dishonest and, when asked what his contribution has been, he said he has raised one family.

In a quick reading of Wikipedia’s article about Mr, Waugh, I see his last years were darkened by Vatican II and in particular, the change to a vernacular Mass. Now I must go read more.

Laura writes:

You have a lot of fun in store for you if you have never read his books. A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited are my favorites.

Mary, who sent the link to the interview, writes:

I thought I’d skip through it, but I ended up watching the whole thing and there are some nice tidbits. He handles the interviewer’s more irritating questions very well. If you don’t have time, the highlights are around 16:30 when, speaking of his conversion, he states that he “… realised that Catholicism was Christianity, that all other forms of Christianity were only good in so far as they chipped little bits off the main block….” [perfect image], and at the end when he refers to atheists as “heathens” in the most casual and amusing manner. He also says his favourite of all the books he wrote was the one on St. Helena, so there’s a new one for your bedside table.

If you prefer to read it, here is the transcript, but it’s worth watching for his bemused facial expression alone.

Sarah S. writes:

We really must mention Decline and Fall when recommending Waugh novels. It is a masterpiece. If stranded on a desert island I would wish for that book to lighten the mood.

Mary writes:

“Do you feel the need to belong to an organisation all the time?”

Apparently John Freeman, the interviewer, viewed Waugh’s Catholicism as an organization to which Waugh felt compelled to belong. Freeman states in retrospect that of all the interviews he did for Face to Face, Waugh’s was the one he held in “most honor.” I think Freeman was bewildered, even disturbed, that an author whom he so admired could be a devout Catholic; it confounded him. He was determined to dig into Waugh’s psyche to find some unturned stone that would explain how this could be, hence all the questions with a psychological bent: had Waugh spoken rudely to a nun? Had he feelings of resentment? Is his way of life in fact a charade? of which of the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost did Waugh fall short? etc., etc.

 From Waugh’s daughter in a letter to a friend after his death in 1966, from the book A Bitter Trial.

“Don’t be too upset about Papa. I think it was a kind of wonderful miracle. You know how he longed to die and dying as he did on Easter Sunday, when all the liturgy is about death and resurrection, after a Latin Mass and holy communion would be exactly as he wanted. I am sure he had prayed for death at Mass. I am very, very happy for him.”

Mrs. H. writes:

Thanks for posting this interview. Waugh has been my favorite writer ever since a boy with romantic interest sent me Brideshead Revisited when I was 19.  My husband prefers theSword of Honor trilogy.  Helena is sublime.

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