Alexander Waugh
Much Love From Frisky
Madresfield: The Real Brideshead – One House, One Family, One Thousand Years
By Jane Mulvagh
Doubleday 383pp £20
Certain skill is required to write a good non-fiction book. The tone must be carefully honed to stimulate the ignorant reader without patronising the well-informed, the chronology should be clear, the author’s personal prejudices and gaps of knowledge artfully camouflaged, and his urge to bend facts to suit a preconceived thesis, at all times stoutly resisted. Above all it is vital to get things right, because although we are used to finding errors in newspapers, on the internet, on television and on the radio, it will be the end of non-fiction book publishing when the standard of factual accuracy between its covers finally sinks to the common media mean.
Jane Mulvagh, in writing about Evelyn Waugh and his relationship with the Lygon family of Madresfield Court, has bravely entered a world where there are already a great many experts and it strikes me that she is going to get her fingers badly burned. The book begins ‘The house upon
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
Give the gift that lasts all year with a subscription to Literary Review. Save up to 35% on the cover price when you visit us at https://literaryreview.co.uk/subscribe and enter the code 'XMAS24'