Vile BodiesisEvelyn Waugh’ssecond novel, for which he seems not to have held out high hopes. It was written during a period of personal trauma—the break-up of his short-lived first marriage—and many see in the novel’s fragmentary scenes and frail relationships the effects of Waugh’s deep emotional disappointments. It’s also one of the most explicitly modernist of Waugh’s books.
In spite of this sobering context, the novel is full of humor and...
