The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh: Helena: Volume 11

by Evelyn Waugh, Sara Haslam (Editor)

Overview

This volume is part of the Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh critical edition, which brings together all Waugh's published and previously unpublished writings for the first time with comprehensive introductions and annotation, and a full account of each text's manuscript development and textual variants. The edition's General Editor is Alexander Waugh, Evelyn Waugh's grandson and editor of the twelve-volume Personal Writings sequence.

Set in the 4th century AD, and Waugh's only historical novel, Helena is the story of the mother of Emperor Constantine and her reputed discovery of the 'True Cross'. Waugh described Helena as his favourite among his works—in a Face to Face interview with John Freeman for the BBC in 1960, for example. His fictional account of Helena's widely-celebrated life and pilgrimage is the product of detailed historical research, and it contributes to our understanding of Waugh's views of the Church, both ancient and modern. Uniquely, however, Helena also demonstrates Waugh's interest in domestic politics set against a backdrop of significant historical acts.

This edition of Helena provides the first detailed textual history of the novel. Covering such matters as 'Publication History', 'Cultural Contexts', and 'Critical Reception', the introduction facilitates successful engagement with Waugh's novel from a variety of perspectives, as well as equipping the reader with detailed understanding of its fascinating and complex textual history. Readers are also furnished with a detailed set of explanatory notes which provide information about the people, places, events and texts referenced in Waugh's only historical novel, as well as pointing out links in theme or idea with others of Waugh's works.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199685240
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Series:	The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Evelyn Waugh

Sara Haslam is Professor of 20th Century Literature at the Open University. Her research has driven C21st critical reassessment of Ford Madox Ford, on whom she has published for 20 years, most recently as co-editor of the Routledge Research Companion to Ford Madox Ford (2019). She has edited Ford's fiction and non-fiction and, as editor of A Man Could Stand Up (Carcanet, 2010), she contributed to the first annotated critical edition of Ford's First World War masterpiece, Parade's End (1924-28). Also a specialist in First World War literature, she is currently researching what she has termed war-time 'literary caregiving'. Her article on Helen Mary Gaskell's War Library was published in 2018; her co-written '"Medicinable Literature": Bibliotherapy, Literary Caregiving and the First World War' is forthcoming in Literature and Medicine. A member of the Waugh project since 2013, she has written blogs for the 'Waugh and Words' series about her experience of editing Helena.

Date of Birth:

October 28, 1903

Date of Death:

April 10, 1966

Place of Birth:

West Hampstead, London

Education:

Hertford College, Oxford University, 1921-1924; Heatherley's Art School, 1924

Table of Contents

IntroductionHelenaAppendix A: Contextual NotesAppendix B: Manuscript Development and Textual VariantsAppendix C: Waugh's Manuscript 'Foreword' to HelenaAppendix D: Manuscript Version of Chapter IX 'Recessional'Appendix E: Notes on Translating Helena

Editorial Reviews

"The book is well-produced, up to the high printing and editorial standards reflected in the earlier volumes of this series. It is a welcome addition to the Complete Works project and is entitled to receive critical support for one of Waugh's books that has been sadly and unjustifiably neglected." — Jeffrey Manley, EVELYN WAUGH STUDIES

"... a welcome addition to the Complete Works project and is entitled to receive critical support for one of Waugh's books that has been sadly and unjustifiably neglected." — Jeffrey Manley, Evelyn Waugh Studies

From the Publisher