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When a man is tired of hell, he's tired of life.
Interesting the assertion that his humorous books were the "good ones" -- I felt they all went on too long, though perhaps because a joke can't really be told for too long (exception that proves the rule: Wodehouse). Rather I much prefer his later, more serious and even cynical work.
I've read it all because he is such a master of language and even if I tire of the plot I drink up his prose. He is one of my favorites.
Decline and Fall is an excellent read, and I did enjoy Sword of Honor, but I never much cared for any of his other work; I think perhaps I read them a little too young to get the underlying themes
Recently got into reading Waugh, and really loved 'Handful of Ashes' - some of the interactions between the characters feel very modern somehow. Also his ability to write characters is amazing.
Anyway, enough of the terrible literary criticism. Far more important is this line from Waugh's wiki page:
> The twin blows were sufficient for him to consider suicide. He records that he went down to a nearby beach and, leaving a note with his clothes, walked out to sea. An attack by jellyfish changed his mind, and he returned quickly to the shore
I feel that 'He records that' is a polite way to say "this is obvious nonsense". I mean, sure it's possible that Waugh decided not to commit suicide due to jellyfish, but it certainly seems suspiciously like something that a character in his novels would do ...
Not even Brideshead? Though I confess I did see the ITV series first, can't know what I'd think of it to read without having those characters/actors' interpretations in mind, which definitely skews it.
The 1965 movie The Loved One based on Waugh's book is one of my favorites.
Scoop?
Dear Commenters,
Tempting as it may be, to read the headline and wade in to add you point of anecdata from the time you spent in London, and found it terrible/ wonderful, i really urge you to click the link.
Spoiler: its about the release of 5 books by Evelyn Waugh, not about the pro's and cons of a city that you may love, or hate.
I am reminded of that bit in Lord Edgware Dies where Lady Edgware mishears something about "The Judgement of Paris" and starts confidently bleating about fashion, New York and London.
That sounds less fun to talk about
This summary has helpfully saved time that I might otherwise have wasted reading the apparently tedious (though well-regarded) works of Evelyn Waugh.
> From that moment,’ Auberon Waugh recalled, ‘I never treated anything he had to say on faith or morals very seriously.’
If the person telling you smoking is unhealthy is a smoker, then it's obviously a lie and you should enjoy the healthy smoking habit whenever possible.
But I look forward to HN comments about how and why London is or is not hell. Those are likely to be both interesting and informative. ;-)
So write a blog post about how London is hell and post it here...
It's only hell if you don't have money
Money doesn’t help in my experience
I clicked the link and was confused about the list of 5 books at the top (not even sure if it was books or what it meant), that's why I looked at the comments first. :P
I've never been to London, nor will I, but I once sent my spouse off for a look-see and she came back with the usual Trafalgar and pigeon snaps, a can of Nukie, a copy of 'Viz' and a 'Parklife' CD. Close enough; add that to a deep familiarity with the London of Dickens and Sherlock, and I'd wager that it's no more Hell than any human anthill of its ilk.
I’m going to ignore this article on Waugh’s literary output to let you know that I love this wonderful city.
darn it, I was hopping to find out, but in fact the OP it's a review of 5 novels. never mind
Going by betteridge's law, you may already have the answer. :)
I live in London and I find it extremely overrated. The only appealing thing about it is the job market.
Honestly it's too big. Lived there for 7 years and had enough of the cold, grey, miserable existence marked by having to travel at least 30 minutes, typically 45 minutes to go anywhere in any direction. And I lived in Stratford Zone 2!
Moved to Barcelona and the difference is night and day.
Barcelona is a fantastic city but you could lay down this same criticism just by moving out to Castelldefels or Forum or La Floresta.
Both are conurbations (of differing size) where you can find yourself wandering various little town centres each with their own unique vibe. It just happens that London is bigger.
Let’s be honest Stratford isn’t anything remotely considered central even if it is technically zone 2.
Night and day difference living out there on the edge than living closer in within one of the neighborhoods having restaurants, cafes and local pubs on your doorstep and being able to walk to work.
Perhaps but it is connected by HS1, you can get to St Pancras in 6 minutes.
I lived about 5min towards the centre (Bow) for almost ten years - and the other side in W2 & W12 (worlds apart!) for a couple before that - and I agree with you, but the optimistic alternative reading is that it is also quite amazing how much is accessible within that time.
i.e. it takes 40m to get anywhere... But there's an incredible variety of things & places to which you can get in 40m!
What about the public transport? I've never bothered to learn how to drive, and it's never impacted my life here one bit.
> What about the public transport?
And the museums, theatres, cinemas, galleries, pubs, clubs, restaurants, markets, festivals, parks etc.
But if you don't use any of those then London is just a noisy, dirty, expensive hell - you might as well live in the suburbs somewhere
All things that you can find in any European capital, and I don't go to most of those anyway.
That's your problem then, you're not doing in London the things people move to London for. I don't blame you for disliking London if you're not doing the things London excels at!
What about it? Is it not the run-of-the-mill Western European capital transport network?
At 250 miles of track, it covers a much greater area than any other European (sans Russia) capital. The second largest is Madrid at 180 miles, and Paris is 140 miles.
My opinion is that the tube is excellent that it exists because I _can_ take it somewhere, but I hate the experience. I hate the experience and doing it every day is soul sucking. I grant you it's not as bad as the experience of not being able to go where you want.
The public transport is fine. I wouldn't say it's a particularly appealing aspect.
I love it too but my god is it loud!
London is great iff you have comfort at home, i.e. if you live in a good place where you actually rest. If you live in a shoebox it's miserable
I'd actually argue the other way around - London is a great place to live in a shoebox, because while housing is more expensive here, everything else is similar to the rest of the country, and there's a tonne of cheap/free stuff to go to. Moving to London and staying at home is like living in Sydney and never going to the beach, or to Vancouver and never going to the mountains. You're just not doing what the city is great at.
having lived in NYC, which has a more intense albeit similar vibe, I have come to appreciate having a comfortable place to go back to at the end of a day. I think that makes a total difference on your experience. That and commute time. Cities like that offer so much, but I personally prefer to take bites of it whenever I feel like it. I think the biggest wins are the job market, career progression, the business opportunities, the fact that it's one of the best travel hubs in the world, and the insane amount of quality and diverse food, entertainment, and shopping options.
Blud did NOT even read the article
>The only appealing thing about it is the job market.
I assume that is specifically within UK? And not job market in the EU or Global Scale?
The London job market is great for the UK, excellent within Europe, and stupendous by global standards. You'll find top jobs in tech, media, fashion, finance, academia, almost any professional field there is.
If you want to work in a diverse environment go work in London. It wouldn't surprise me if 50% of your colleagues weren't born in the UK, let alone London.
My team in London has 8 people:
3 Brits
2 Americans
1 each of Ukrainian, Irish, and French.
The head of the department is also French.
Job wise London is very good compared to most of the EU.
job-wise London is very good at pretty much any standard. Aside from the US, there's no other place that tops it