Modern Classics Sword of Honour
Details
Fictionalising his experience of service during the Second World War, Evelyn Waugh's <i>Sword of Honour </i>is the complete one-volume edition of his masterful trilogy, edited with an introduction by Angus Calder in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>Waugh's own unhappy experience of being a soldier is superbly re-enacted in this story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commissioned into the Royal Corps of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-45. High comedy - in the company of Brigadier Ritchie-Hook or the denizens of Bellamy's Club - is only part of the shambles of Crouchback's war. When action comes in Crete and in Yugoslavia, he discovers not heroism, but humanity. <i>Sword of Honour</i> combines three volumes: <i>Officers and Gentlemen</i>, <i>Men at Arms</i> and <i>Unconditional Surrender</i>, which were originally published separately. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one-volume <i>Sword of Honour</i> in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read.<br><br>Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead, second son of Arthur Waugh, publisher and literary critic, and brother of Alec Waugh, the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work, a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his first novel, <i>Decline and Fall</i>, which was soon followed by <i>Vile Bodies</i> (1930), <i>A Handful of Dust</i> (1934) and <i>Scoop</i> (1938). In 1939 he was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, serving in the Middle East and in Yugoslavia. In 1942 he published <i>Put Out More Flags</i> and then in 1945 <i>Brideshead Revisited</i>. <i>Men at Arms</i> (1952) was the first volume of 'The Sword of Honour' trilogy, and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes, <i>Officers and Gentlemen</i> and <i>Unconditional Surrender</i>, followed in 1955 and 1961.<br><br>If you enjoyed <i>Sword of Honour</i>, you might like Ford Madox Ford's <i>Parade's End</i>, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>'Marvellous ... one of the masterpieces of the century'<br>John Banville, <i>Irish Times</i>
Modern Classics Sword of Honour Evelyn Waugh
Details
Fictionalising his experience of service during the Second World War, Evelyn Waugh's <i>Sword of Honour </i>is the complete one-volume edition of his masterful trilogy, edited with an introduction by Angus Calder in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>Waugh's own unhappy experience of being a soldier is superbly re-enacted in this story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commissioned into the Royal Corps of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-45. High comedy - in the company of Brigadier Ritchie-Hook or the denizens of Bellamy's Club - is only part of the shambles of Crouchback's war. When action comes in Crete and in Yugoslavia, he discovers not heroism, but humanity. <i>Sword of Honour</i> combines three volumes: <i>Officers and Gentlemen</i>, <i>Men at Arms</i> and <i>Unconditional Surrender</i>, which were originally published separately. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one-volume <i>Sword of Honour</i> in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read.<br><br>Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead, second son of Arthur Waugh, publisher and literary critic, and brother of Alec Waugh, the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work, a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his first novel, <i>Decline and Fall</i>, which was soon followed by <i>Vile Bodies</i> (1930), <i>A Handful of Dust</i> (1934) and <i>Scoop</i> (1938). In 1939 he was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, serving in the Middle East and in Yugoslavia. In 1942 he published <i>Put Out More Flags</i> and then in 1945 <i>Brideshead Revisited</i>. <i>Men at Arms</i> (1952) was the first volume of 'The Sword of Honour' trilogy, and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes, <i>Officers and Gentlemen</i> and <i>Unconditional Surrender</i>, followed in 1955 and 1961.<br><br>If you enjoyed <i>Sword of Honour</i>, you might like Ford Madox Ford's <i>Parade's End</i>, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>'Marvellous ... one of the masterpieces of the century'<br>John Banville, <i>Irish Times</i>