On Satire: Evelyn Waugh's 'A Handful of Dust'

[@londonreviewofbooks]

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[@baliksupper6043]

Claire’s got a lovely posh voice.

[@johntuffin3262]

You have a few good insights, but a lot is harsh and irrelevant. You criticise Waugh but don’t consider the book you’re supposed to be reviewing. There is little indication that you have even read it. You blame Waugh for not writing about servants, but this is not a story about servants. An author is at liberty to choose his characters. No one criticises Jane Austen , the Brontes, Tennyson, Virginia Woolf or Huxley for not writing about servants. Plenty of people enjoy muffins without having butlers or country houses.
You also fail to give him credit for the undoubted conviction of his Catholic faith, which was an essential part of most of his writing, though not of this book.

[@londonreviewofbooks]

Thanks for your comment. This is only an extract from the episode. In the full episode 'A Handful of Dust' is discussed in detail. It's available as part of the Close Readings subscription podcast:
Directly in Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3pJoFPq
In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadingsyt