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Old August 13th, 2008 #8
steven clark
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Before he died, George Orwell was going to write an essay on Waugh. Here are some notes he made:
'W's driving forces. Snobbery. Catholicism.
But note the persistant snobbishness, rising in the social scale but always centering around the idea of continuity/aristocracy/a country house. Note that Waugh's loyalty is to a form of society no longer viable, of which he must be aware.'
'Analyze BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Studiously detatched attitude....Real theme-Sebastien's drunkenness & family's unwillingness to cure all this at the expense of committing a sin. Note that this is a real departure from the humanist attitude, with which no compromise is possible.'

Usually in much British humor, foreigners are always a joke. Americans
especially. I wonder how valid this is now, since much of Britain is for all
intents made up of foreigners, and Marxist humor is always rather lacking.
Interesting comments made here on Shakespeare. I'd disagree about him being funny and tragic, but your commetns on people liking something because they think they OUGHT to is perceptive and good. I'm reminded of a theatre group here (and other cities) that put on nothing but English plays, especially 1900 era. A real middle-class cult for that kind of stuff, and I find most all these plays tedious and removed from reality, abnd like 90% of all British humor, is built on the class system. If you aren't a Lord or have no estate, you're a joke. Haw-haw.