Alexander Waugh on preserving the works of one of the 20th century's greatest writers: His grandfather Evelyn Waugh
The author of Brideshead Revisited and A Handful of Dust is buried in Combe Florey on land sloping down toward a churchyard. A cracked retaining wall holds his grave in place—for now. “At some point, it will crash and the coffin will just spill out and we can all have a gawk,” says Alexander Waugh, his grandson. A complicated bureaucratic mess involving the diocese and town council makes repairing the wall, acquiring permission, somehow impossible: “Like a Trollopian farce about village quarrels!”
The biographer of both the Wittgenstein family (The House of Wittgenstein) and his own (Fathers and Sons), Alexander acts as general editor for the project—just one of his interests. (A leading anti-Stratfordian, he's also passionately determined to prove William Shakespeare did not write those plays. “It's beyond question!” he insists, excitedly showing proof in hidden clues and Elizabethan word games.)
“This is a massive work of biography, essentially,” according to Alexander. “The letters in order, with the diaries in order, with news stories all collated. Incoming, outgoing. It's fact, fact, fact. Primary source material of Evelyn Waugh, and, to me, that is the greatest biography you can ever get.”
Four volumes are now on sale, with a fifth set to be released in the United States this May. “They've been very well received,” Alexander tells us, happily but with a deep sigh—still anticipating much more to do. “Don't forget: We're talking about 43 volumes—and four out of 43 is not a great deal.” A good grandson's work is never done.