Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family

by Alexander Waugh

Book Overview

If there is a literary gene, then the Waugh family most certainly has it--and it clearly seems to be passed down from father to son. The first of the literary Waughs was Arthur, who, when he won the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385521502
• ISBN13: 9780385521505
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A talented and honest review of a literary family

A beautifully written detailed account of the professional, social and family lives of four generations of writers. From Dr. Alexander Waugh to Alexander Waugh, the writer of this saga, through Evelyn and Auberon, his grandfather and his father. It is a raw and objective account of the dysfunctional members of a family who functioned as a family in spite of their oddness and their neurotic eccentricity. Sadism, bisexuality, a passion for words, poetical and psychological acumen enhance this wonderfully in-depth and multi layered story.

A great, literate read

Boy, what a tangled bunch of father/son relationships! Alexander Waugh slices and dices the family tree with great wit and insight. It sure is an indictment of British "public" schools. Nasty, brutish, (and short?) indeed! This book is a pleasure to read, too, just for the wonderful use of the language.

Superbly Wrought Bio

Hard as it may be to believe, this Waugh is every bit as amusing and perceptive as his grandfather and father before him. His description of three generations of Waughs makes for riveting reading. How fun to read letters across the century between the fathers and sons of one of the most illustrious literary families in English letters. We Americans know Evelyn best, but Alexander's descriptions of his father,Auberon, convince me that he has been wrongfully neglected on this side of the Atlantic. Waugh clearly was the genius of the dynasty. His relationship with his father is heart-breaking and wonderfully drawn by the grand-son, a brilliant stylist and clever wit. His close reading of his grand-father's famous novels provides useful insights into the creation of these novels, which remain in print after making best-seller lists more than 50 years ago. One Waugh, one would think, would be more than enough, but here we learn the English language world has been graced with at least four: Arthur, Evelyn, Auberon, and Alexander. How delicious.

Waughs past and present, and maybe even Turgenev, would be satisfied with the job he has done.

It's no accident that the publication of this book coincides with Evelyn Waugh's centenary (and George Orwell's, too, by the way). British headline writers, over-stimulated by reading pieces about the various Waughs, have perpetrated a series of ghastly juvenile puns, including "In Waugh and Peace," "A Family at Waugh with Each Other," "My Life in the Waugh Zone," etc. The title, FATHERS AND SONS, is perfect and evidently couldn't be resisted, even though that Russian fellow, Turgenev, had thought of it first. Mothers, and women in general, are of no consequence in this history of five generations of illustrious Waugh males. Of course, females played a role in bringing them into the world, but afterwards they receded quietly into the background and were heard from no more. The progenitor of the most famous literary Waughs --- Evelyn and his son Auberon --- was Arthur Waugh, great-grandfather of Alexander, the author of this book. Arthur might have been the obvious starting point. But Alexander takes readers back one generation further --- to Dr. Alexander Waugh, FRCS, who is known to all of his descendants simply as "the Brute." He was a sadist "whose taste for flagellation never deserted him," who carried with him, wherever he went, an ivory-handled whip and an urge to use it. Stories of his brutish excesses continue to be passed down from generation to generation. A video made available on the Internet shows a Waugh toddler spitting on the Brute's headstone while an approving father or uncle stands in the background, beaming at his precocity. The Brute's grandfather, Dr. [of Divinity] Alexander Waugh, known to the family as "The Great and Good," didn't make the cut for inclusion in this limited history. Nor did the Brute's father, another divine, the rector of Corsley. These omissions may only reflect an author's informed assessment of his prospective audience; no one ever read a Waugh for moral enlightenment or spiritual uplift. Alexander's earlier books were TIME and GOD, their subjects calculated perhaps to put off the really challenging task of writing this "autobiography" of his family. If so, he needn't have worried. Although it's not true that you can't miss with good material, Alexander has fulfilled his obligations both to his family and his readers, and it seems likely that the Waughs past and present, and maybe even Turgenev, would be satisfied with the job he has done. --- Reviewed by Harold Cordry

Wavian

A well-written, dryly-humorous account of the male line of the famous English literary clan. Some bold accounts of womanizing and yet lower -- but still keen -- pleasures. Alexander Waugh is an apple that did not drop far from the family's vigorous tree. (I rank the jacket's author photograph as one of my favorites.)