 | |
| Author | Evelyn Waugh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Sword of Honour |
| Genre | War, satire |
| Publisher | Chapman & Hall |
Publication date | 1955 |
| Pages | 187 |
| Preceded by | Men at Arms |
| Followed by | Unconditional Surrender |
Officers and Gentlemen is a 1955 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.
Officers and Gentlemen is the second novel in Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy, the author's look at the Second World War. The novels loosely parallel Waugh's wartime experiences. The first was Men at Arms (1952), the third was Unconditional Surrender (1961).
Sent back to the UK in disgrace at the end of the first novel, Guy Crouchback – heir of a declining aristocratic English Roman Catholic family – manages to find a place in a fledgling commando brigade, training on a Scottish island under an old friend, Tommy Blackhouse. Tommy is also the man for whom Guy's wife Virginia left him. Another trainee is Ivor Claire, whom Guy regards as the flower of English chivalry. Guy learns to exploit the niceties of military ways of doing things with the assistance of Colonel "Jumbo" Trotter, an elderly Halberdier who knows all the strings to pull.
Guy is posted to Cairo, Allied headquarters for the Mediterranean and Middle East. He becomes caught up in the evacuation of Crete, where he acquits himself well, though chaos and muddle prevail. At this time he meets the slippery Corporal-Major Ludovic. (Waugh may have based the character of Ludovic on one or two real people: the soldier of fortune and novelist John Lodwick, [1] and/or the future press tycoon and politician Robert Maxwell.[ citation needed ]) In the final stages of the evacuation, they escape with a few others in a small boat, but run out of fuel. The sapper Captain in command becomes delirious, and subsequently disappears (there is an implication that he has been disposed of by Ludovic). Eventually they reach Egypt, where Ludovic carries a disoriented Guy ashore. Apparently a hero, Ludovic is commissioned as an officer.
As Guy recovers in hospital, Mrs Stitch, a character who turns up in other Waugh books, takes him under her well-connected wing. She also tries to protect Claire, who was evacuated from Crete even though his unit's orders were to fight to the last and then surrender as prisoners of war. She sends Guy the long way home to England, possibly to prevent him from compromising the cover story worked up to protect Claire from desertion charges.
Guy finds himself once more in his club, asking around for a suitable job.
Officers and Gentlemen was dramatised for television in 1967 and 2001 along with the two other novels in the Sword of Honour trilogy, featuring first Edward Woodward and then Daniel Craig.
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires Decline and Fall (1928) and A Handful of Dust (1934), the novel Brideshead Revisited (1945), and the Second World War trilogy Sword of Honour (1952–1961). He is recognised as one of the great prose stylists of the English language in the 20th century.
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder, most especially his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle. Ryder has relationships with two of the Flytes: Sebastian and Julia. The novel explores themes including nostalgia for the age of English aristocracy and Catholicism. A faithful and well-received television adaptation of the novel was produced in an 11-part miniseries by Granada Television in 1981.
Vile Bodies is the second novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1930. It satirises the bright young things, the rich young people partying in London after World War I, and the press which fed on their doings. The original title Bright Young Things, which Waugh changed because he thought the phrase had become too clichéd, was used in Stephen Fry's 2003 film adaptation. The eventual title appears in a comment made by the novel's narrator in reference to the characters' party-driven lifestyle: "All that succession and repetition of massed humanity... Those vile bodies...". The book was dedicated to B. G. and D. G., Waugh's friends Bryan Guinness and his wife Diana.
The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy (1948) is a short, satirical novel by British novelist Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry.
Scoop is a 1938 novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. It is a satire of sensationalist journalism and foreign correspondents.
Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers is a comic novel by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, writing under the pseudonym "F. Anstey", first published in 1882. The title originates from the Latin phrase "vice versa", meaning "the other way around".
Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, 4th Baron Lovat, was the 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat and a prominent British Commando during the Second World War. His friends called him Shimi Lovat, an anglicised version of his name in the Scottish Gaelic language. His clan referred to him as MacShimidh, his Gaelic patronym, meaning Son of Simon. Simon is the favoured family name for the Chiefs of Clan Fraser. While the 15th Lord de jure, he was the 17th Lord Lovat de facto, but for the attainder of his Jacobite ancestor who was executed in 1747. He was also 4th Baron Lovat in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The Sword of Honour is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh which loosely parallel Waugh's experiences during the Second World War. Published by Chapman & Hall from 1952 to 1961, the novels are: Men at Arms (1952); Officers and Gentlemen (1955); and Unconditional Surrender (1961), marketed as The End of the Battle in the United States and Canada.
Helena, published in 1950, is the sole historical novel of Evelyn Waugh.
A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting, where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the effects of, or recovering from war. Many war novels are historical novels.
Auberon Mark Yvo Henry Molyneux Herbert (1922–1974) was a British landowner and advocate of Eastern European causes after World War II.
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold is a novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in July 1957. It is Waugh's penultimate full-length work of fiction, which the author called his "mad book"—a largely autobiographical account of a period of hallucinations caused by bromide intoxication that he experienced in the early months of 1954, recounted through his protagonist Gilbert Pinfold.
Loamshire Regiment is a placeholder name used by the British Army to provide examples for its procedures. For example, the Loamshire Regiment is provided by the British Forces Post Office to show how to write a British Army address, and is used to set out specimen charges for violations of military law. It is used in Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard's Sniping in France, a World War One manual for training British Army sharpshooters.
Using violence towards his superior officer contrary to section 33(1)(a) of the Army Act 1955 in that he at- on- [struck] [punched] [kicked] No 12345678 Sergeant J Brown, The Loamshire Regiment.
Men at Arms is a 1952 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.
Christopher Hugh Sykes was an English writer. Born into the northern English landowning Sykes family of Sledmere, he was the second son of the diplomat Sir Mark Sykes (1879–1919), and his wife, Edith. His sister was Angela Sykes, the sculptor. His uncle, also Christopher Sykes, was, for a time, a close friend of Edward VII.
The Sword of Stalingrad is a bejewelled ceremonial longsword specially forged and inscribed by command of King George VI of the United Kingdom as a token of homage from the British people to the Soviet defenders of the city during the Battle of Stalingrad. On 29 November 1943, it was presented to Marshal Joseph Stalin by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at a ceremony during the Tehran Conference, in the presence of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and an honour guard.
Mrs. Algernon Stitch, more familiarly known as Julia Stitch, is a character created by Evelyn Waugh, best known for her role in the novel Scoop. The character was inspired by Waugh's friendship with the well-connected socialite, Lady Diana Cooper.
Sword of Honour is a trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh, set during the Second World War.
Unconditional Surrender is a 1961 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh. The novel has also been published under the title The End of the Battle. Along with the other two novels in the series, it was adapted into a 2001 TV film with Daniel Craig.
Sword of Honour is a 2001 British television film directed by Bill Anderson and starring Daniel Craig. Scripted by William Boyd, it is based on the Sword of Honour trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh, which loosely parallel Waugh's own experiences in the Second World War.