Evelyn Waugh - Mary Lygon Collection
Collection
Identifier: GTM-GAMMS294
The Evelyn Waugh - Mary Lygon Letters consist of over eighty letters sent from English Catholic novelist Evelyn Waugh to his close friend Lady Mary Lygon. Providing good documentary material about Waugh's life, the letters discuss mutual friends, travel, and other aspects of Waugh's life. The letters are contained in 83 archival folders in one archival box (0.5 linear feet).
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Evelyn Waugh was an English Catholic writer known for his satirical novels. Born in London in 1903, Waugh studied at Lancing College, Sussex, and Hertford College, Oxford. Soon he devoted himself to writing novels, and he made a name for himself with his satirical writings. In World War II, he served in the Royal Marines and the Royal Horse Guards, and he participated in a military operation to help the Yugoslav Partisans in 1944. Waugh's novels before 1939 include "Decline and Fall" (1928), "Vile Bodies" (1930), "Black Mischief" (1932), "A Handful of Dust" (1934), and "Scoop" (1938). His postwar works, which are more serious in nature, include "Brideshead Revisited" (1945), "Helena" (1950), "Men at Arms" (1952), "Officers and Gentlemen" (1955), and "Unconditional Surrender" (1961). Evelyn Waugh died on April 10, 1966. [Source: "Encyclopedia Britannica Online."]
Lady Mary Lygon was a close friend of Evelyn Waugh. She was the daughter of the 7th Earl of Beaucamp and Lady Lettice Grosvenor, who was a grand-daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. Mary was the sixth youngest of seven children. She was called "Maimie" by many and "Blondy" by Waugh. In 1939, Lady Mary Lygon married H.H. Prince Vsevolode Joannovitch of Russia, who worked for Saccone & Speed, wine merchants. The Lygon family has been thought by some to have inspired the Marchmain family in Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited." [Sources: Appendix of Names. "The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh." ed. Michael Davie. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976. "The Letters of Evelyn Waugh." ed. by Mark Amory. New Haven and New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1980.]
0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
English
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository