Evelyn Waugh Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The book was published in 1927. Rossetti was one of the founders of the so called Pre-Raphaelites and brother of the famous poet Christina Rossetti. He was a painter, a poet, and a designer.

Answer: A Handful of Dust

The title comes from these lines in Eliot's "The Wasteland": ". . . I will show you something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

Answer: A Little Learning

The autobiography "A Little Learning" appeared in 1964. The title comes from a line in a poem by 18th century neo-classicist Alexander Pope: "A little learning is a dangerous thing . . ."

Answer: Charles Dickens

Last is a character from Waugh's novel "A Handful of Dust," though this portion of the novel was originally published as a short story.

Answer: The Loved One

"The Loved One" is a satire on Hollywood, among other things. It was, interestingly enough, made into a rather successful movie by Hollywood!

Answer: Brideshead Revisited

Charles Ryder is the friend of a wealthy Roman Catholic family, the Marchmains, and it is he who narrates their affairs to the reader.

Answer: Roman Catholicism

Waugh's faith deeply influenced his writing. He said that the purpose of "Brideshead Revisited" was to "exhibit, ultimately, the operation of divine grace" in the lives of people.

Answer: Vile Bodies

This was Waugh's second published novel. It satirizes the socialites of London, and tells the tale of a poor young writer, who has fallen in love with an aristocrat's daughter.

Answer: Black Mischief

This was Waugh's third novel, and it went a long way toward establishing his reputation as Britain's leading satirist.

Answer: Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh

Auberon Alexander Waugh is Evelyn Waugh's oldest son. He is a writer, and also a journalist.