Decline and Fall

First published in 1928, 'Decline and Fall' is a sharp, darkly comic satire that launched Evelyn Waugh’s literary career. The novel follows the misadventures of Paul Pennyfeather, a quiet theology student at Oxford who is expelled after an accidental scandal. Thrust into the absurd world beyond academia, Paul takes a job teaching at a dismal Welsh boarding school filled with eccentric colleagues and unruly pupils.
What follows is a series of bizarre and ironic encounters that plunge Paul deeper into the chaotic, often hypocritical circles of British high society. From shady aristocrats and unscrupulous schoolmasters to glamorous socialites and shady businessmen, Paul’s journey is both hilarious and tragic, exposing the absurdities of class, education, and morality in post–World War I England.
Waugh’s debut is a brilliant blend of farce and social critique, filled with wit, irony, and a keen eye for the ridiculous. 'Decline and Fall' skewers the institutions and conventions of British life with biting humor, offering a bleakly funny portrait of a society on the brink of moral collapse. It remains one of the most enduring and entertaining works in modern British satire.

Evelyn Waugh's father Arthur was a noted editor and publisher. His only sibling Alec also became a writer of note. In fact, his book “The Loom of Youth” (1917) a novel about his old boarding school Sherborne caused Evelyn to be expelled from there and placed at Lancing College. He said of his time there, “…the whole of English education when I was brought up was to produce prose writers; it was all we were taught, really.” He went on to Hertford College, Oxford, where he read History. When asked if he took up any sports there he quipped, “I drank for Hertford.”
In 1924 Waugh left Oxford without taking his degree. After inglorious stints as a school teacher (he was dismissed for trying to seduce a school matron and/or inebriation), an apprentice cabinet maker and journalist, he wrote and had published his first novel, “Decline and Fall” in 1928.
In 1928 he married Evelyn Gardiner. She proved unfaithful, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Waugh would derive parts of “A Handful of Dust” from this unhappy time. His second marriage to Audrey Herbert lasted the rest of his life and begat seven children. It was during this time that he converted to Catholicism.
During the thirties Waugh produced one gem after another. From this decade come: “Vile Bodies” (1930), “Black Mischief” (1932), the incomparable “A Handful of Dust” (1934) and “Scoop” (1938). After the Second World War he published what is for many his masterpiece, “Brideshead Revisited,” in which his Catholicism took centre stage. “The Loved One” a scathing satire of the American death industry followed in 1947. After publishing his “Sword of Honour Trilogy” about his experiences in World War II - “Men at Arms” (1952), “Officers and Gentlemen” (1955), “Unconditional Surrender" (1961) - his career was seen to be on the wane. In fact, “Basil Seal Rides Again” (1963) - his last published novel - received little critical or commercial attention. Evelyn Waugh, considered by many to be the greatest satirical novelist of his day, died on 10 April 1966 at the age of 62.