The Loved One

Evelyn Waugh

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The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh is a satirical novel that offers a biting commentary on the burial traditions and funeral industry in California, particularly in Hollywood. The plot revolves around Dennis Barlow, a British poet who finds himself entangled in a love triangle with Aimee Thanatogenos, a cosmetician at Whispering Glades Memorial Park, and Mr. Joyboy, the head mortician. Through absurd and humorous situations, Waugh skewers the American way of death, exploring themes of vapidness, broken systems, and cultural differences between the British ex-pat community and American society.

The novel is praised for its incisive satire, dark humor, and sharp wit in exposing the absurdity of American funeral customs and Hollywood society. Waugh's writing style is described as economical yet impactful, with a keen eye for detail and a talent for creating vivid, flawed characters that add depth to the humorous narrative.

Characters:

The characters are satirical portrayals of both British and American cultural stereotypes, with Dennis Barlow as a self-serving poet and Aimee as a naive mortician, amidst a cast of humorously flawed individuals.

Writing/Prose:

Waugh's writing is sharp, witty, and satirical, employing a pared down style that emphasizes dark humor, clever character names, and incisive observations about society.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot focuses on the absurdities of Hollywood's funeral practices while following the life of Dennis Barlow, a British poet who finds himself involved in a darkly comedic love triangle amidst critiques of American and British cultural attitudes towards death.

Setting:

The setting is in 1940s Hollywood, contrasting the opulent Whispering Glades Memorial Park with the whimsical Happier Hunting Ground pet cemetery, while examining the British expatriate community.

Pacing:

The pacing of the narrative is brisk, allowing for engaging and quick reading, often completing the story in a single sitting.

All day the heat had been barely supportable but at evening a breeze arose in the west, blowing from the heart of the setting sun and from the ocean, which lay unseen, unheard behind the scrubby footh...

Notes:

The Loved One is a satire of Hollywood's funeral industry, specifically critiquing its excesses.

Evelyn Waugh wrote the book after attempting to adapt Brideshead Revisited for film in Hollywood.

The story features a love triangle involving a British poet, a mortician, and a cosmetician at a funeral home.

Whispering Glades, the main funeral home in the book, is modeled after the real Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood.

The novella contrasts British cultural attitudes with American superficiality regarding death and funerals.

Waugh's writing is noted for its witty and sharp satire, often blending dark humor with serious themes.

The book reflects Waugh's impressions of the British expatriate community in Hollywood during the 1940s.

The term 'The Loved One' refers to the deceased, a euphemism used throughout the story.

The novella has been described as both hilariously funny and disturbingly morbid, highlighting the absurdities of life and death.

Waugh's character names, like Aimee Thanatogenos, are intentionally absurd and reflect his keen sense of humor.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes regarding suicide, death, and the funeral industry, which may be sensitive to some readers.

From The Publisher:

Subtitled An Anglo-American Tragedy, Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One is a witty satirical novel on artistic integrity and the British expat community in Hollywood, published in Penguin Modern Classics.

The more startling for the economy of its prose and plot, this novel's story, set among the manicured lawns and euphemisms of Whispering Glades Memorial Park in Hollywood, satirizes the American way of death and offers Waugh's memento mori. Following the death of a friend, poet and pets' mortician Dennis Barlow finds himself entering into the artificial Hollywood paradise of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park. Within its golden gates, death, American-style, is wrapped up and sold like a package holiday. There, Dennis enters the fragile and bizarre world of Aimée, the naïve Californian corpse beautician, and Mr Joyboy, the master of the embalmer's art...

A dark and savage satire on the Anglo-American cultural divide, The Loved One depicts a world where love, reputation and death cost a very great deal.

Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead, second son of Arthur Waugh, publisher and literary critic, and brother of Alec Waugh, the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work, a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). In 1942 he published Put Out More Flags and then in 1945 Brideshead Revisited. Men at Arms (1952) was the first volume of 'The Sword of Honour' trilogy, and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender, followed in 1955 and 1961.

If you enjoyed The Loved One, you might like Waugh's Vile Bodies, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'The master of black comedy'

Sunday Times

'One of the funniest and most significant books of the century'

Alice Thomas Ellis, Daily Telegraph

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About the Author:

Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903 and educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies, Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). During these years he also travelled extensively and converted to Catholicism. In 1939 Waugh was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, experiences which informed his Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-61). His most famous novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), was written while on leave from the army. Waugh died in 1966.

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