Reviews

• 笑いと苦さ、切なさ イーヴリン・ウォーの魅力再見

  イーヴリン・ウォーといえば、英文学史には必ず取り上げられるものの、 よく読まれている作家とはいえないと思う。 読む人が多いという意味での代表作はBrideshead Revisitedだろう。 私も読んだが、だいぶ前のことでストーリーなどはあまり覚えていない。 ただ、英語がやたら読みにくかった印象と、 初めは何やら、やたら知的だけれども ハチャメチャにふざけている学生たちの生活があったかと思えば、 いつの間にか切ない恋愛の話になって、 なるほどこれがウォーか、と思った記憶がある。 このSword of Honorなる三部作は、 作家を考える上では重要な作品のようだが、 翻訳もないし、代表作というわけではなさそうである。 しかし今回縁があって読むことになって、 こちらの英語力も少しは増したのかあるいは元々そう難しくないのか、 特に読みにくいとも思わなかったし、 また一種独特の味わいを感じて、 これは他の作家にはなかなかないものではないかと、 ウォーの魅力を再認識した気がして、 思っていた以上に楽しめた。 作家の実体験に基づく作品だという。 何かと人生の挫折を抱え込んでいる主人公のガイが、 第二次大戦が迫る中、国に奉仕することで自らを高めようとするように、 普通なら遅すぎる30代なかばで英国軍に志願する。 三部作の第一作であるここでは、士官学校を経て、ようやく戦地に赴くぐらいまでで、 本格的な戦闘はニ作目になる。 だから、あまりアクションはないのだが、 なんとなくひょうひょうとした感覚が妙に心地よいし、 一方に主にどんどん登場する奇妙な人物たちによる笑いがあって、 他方、ガイの生き方の切なさとか、また背景がなんといっても戦争だから、 それにからむ辛さも当然ながらいろいろ描かれるわけで、 笑いとペーソスの融け合う様、そのバランスがいい。 その辺を好きになれるかどうかが、ウォーを楽しめるかどうかの分かれ目だろうか。 個人的には、世界を覆う戦争の影が全体を引き締めていていいように思った。 ガイの不器用な誠実さも魅力で、 結局ウォーの作品の魅力は人間を描く魅力なのだろうと思わせられる。 ガイの挫折の一つの要因に、 美貌にして奔放な元妻ヴィクトリアの存在があるのだが、 そのヴァージニアも興味深いし、 彼女の次の夫であるトミーがやはり軍人でいろいろからむのも面白い。 軍では、ガイと年の近い変わり者のアプソープというのがいて、 この第一作はなんといってもこれを中心人物として話が展開するが、 その結末にはやはり、笑いと苦さの混じった切なさがある。 なお、イーヴリン・ウォーといえば、 日本では吉田健一がなんといっても一番の紹介者だろう。 私も参照したが、 貴族やらカトリシズムの問題がけっこう鍵になるウォーの小説を読むには イギリスやヨーロッパの文化がよくわかっているこの批評家の解説が役に立つと思う。

• Anti-Modern And Excellent

  First, a point for those who disparage Evelyn Waugh's books because he was an antediluvian Roman Catholic, a snob, and apparently a very nasty man. No one can excuse the last item, and the penultimate is almost equally reprehensible, but as for his Catholicism ... well, I don't accept it (though I know it well, having been raised a Catholic in the late 1940s-early 1950s), but as an element in his vision of life it's no more objectionable than contemporary "hip" attitudes, or whatever term is now used. And "hipsters"--or whatever they're called--are horrible snobs and invariably cruel to the "unhip". Most importantly, none of them can write prose as memorably as Waugh, nor do they have much, if any, taste whatsoever for the glories of literature. A generation that considers Bob Dylan a poet, Toni Morrison a novelist, and Rock as serious music isn't worthy to pass judgement on a great novelist like Waugh, even with all his failings. MEN AT ARMS is the first book of the SWORD OF HONOUR trilogy. As with everything Waugh wrote, the prose is superbly judged, the yarn compelling, the humor outstanding, though this is not a typical Wavian satire, except in part. It's actually the beginning of the tragic tale of Guy Crouchback, who deludedly thinks that the Second World War is a Crusade against evil (primarily the Soviet Union). Crouchback is naive but admirably so. He values civilization, even if in a distorted form, the lens of Catholic nonsense clouding his vision. Hugh Kenner once said that Waugh was "the little man with the derby confronting the modern world" (in a commentary aired after the TV production of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED). One could say that Kenner's adulation of James Joyce and his ilk was another sort of confrontation: incoherence and aesthetic anarchy against sense and beauty. Waugh deserves to be read in spite of his failings; James Joyce, at least after DUBLINERS, is a thesis topic for Kenner and company's seminars, fodder for a lot of academic studies that aren't worth publishing. If you like to read FINNEGAN'S WAKE, you need to avoid Evelyn Waugh like the plague, that's certain..

• Men at Arms

  This novel is the first in the Sword of Honour trilogy, followed by Officers and Gentlemen (Penguin Modern Classics) and Unconditional Surrender: The Conclusion of Men at Arms and Officers and Gentlemen (Penguin Modern Classics) . When we meet Guy Crouchback he is living in Italy and is returning to England for the first time in eight years with plans to "serve his King", as war has just been declared. Guy comes from an old, Catholic family, now sadly in decline. His father has given up Broome, the family home, and is living (quite cheerfully) in a hotel. As Guy is divorced, and unable to re-marry as a Catholic, and his two brothers are both dead, the only member of his family that has children is his sister. We gradually learn these facts as Guy returns to England and meets up with the various members of his family. It is fair to say that Guy has great plans when he first arrives back in England, but with typical English cynicism, is quickly disabused of his necessity. He is informed he is too old and men who have managed to obtain a uniform are quick to put him down. By pure luck, he manages to be invited to join the old corps of a Major Tickeridge, who is friendly with his father and who has billeted his wife and daughter in the same hotel for the duration of the war. The book then follows Guy's career in the Halberdiers, a corps with pride, history and prestige and populated with characters that only Evelyn Waugh could invent. Two in particular that will long stay with you is Brigadier Ritchie-Hook, who enjoys 'biffing' the enemy and the glorious Apthorpe, whose 'thunder box' will perplex an Italian spy. During this book Guy Crouchback learns that glory is hard to find, as his corps is moved to locations as diverse as Scotland and Southsand-on-Sea. They board ships, only to disembark again and sleep on trains all night only to find they have not left the station in the morning. There is a real sense of the early months of war, when England is unsettled but stoic and only one officer realises that Churchill is the man that can stop them losing a war none of them had contemplated could not be won. The book ends with a rather abortive attempt to land in Africa before Guy is sent back to England to continue his adventures. He is an elusive man, "respected but not loved", who has an inglorious meeting with his ex-wife Virginia which leaves him slinking back to camp, but who always tries his best and that you will certainly warm to as you get to know him. His Catholicism is central to his character and this is often an important theme in Waugh's books, which I am delighted to see are now on kindle. If you have not discovered Waugh before, I envy you - he is a master of his art.

• Four Stars

  A good read. The ending was a bit abrupt I thought.

• Men at Arms. By Evelyn Waugh

  Excellent delivery service, I received this book from Blackwells, in excellent condition and within two days. I purchased this book as it was recommended to me by my friend and is the first book in a trilogy. Although I have only read a few chapters it is a lighthearted and easy to read novel and just as described. My friend is also reading this and we will be discussing it in a week's time.

• British military

  Waugh’s story is somewhat entertaining but so English & Catholic. Although not during wartime I also served in the British military & found many of his exploits true to life.

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