Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family

Summary (from the publisher): If there is a literary gene, then the Waugh family most certainly has it—and it clearly seems to be passed down from father to son. The first of the literary Waughs was Arthur, who, when he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry at Oxford in 1888, broke with the family tradition of medicine. He went on to become a distinguished publisher and an immensely influential book columnist. He fathered two sons, Alec and Evelyn, both of whom were to become novelists of note (and whom Arthur, somewhat uneasily, would himself publish); both of whom were to rebel in their own ways against his bedrock Victorianism; and one of whom, Evelyn, was to write a series of immortal novels that will be prized as long as elegance and lethal wit are admired. Evelyn begat, among seven others, Auberon Waugh, who would carry on in the family tradition of literary skill and eccentricity, becoming one of England’s most incorrigibly cantankerous and provocative newspaper columnists, loved and loathed in equal measure. And Auberon begat Alexander, yet another writer in the family, to whom it has fallen to tell this extraordinary tale of four generations of scribbling male Waughs.

The result of his labors is Fathers and Sons, one of the most unusual works of biographical memoir ever written. In this remarkable history of father-son relationships in his family, Alexander Waugh exposes the fraught dynamics of love and strife that has produced a succession of successful authors. Based on the recollections of his father and on a mine of hitherto unseen documents relating to his grandfather, Evelyn, the book skillfully traces the threads that have linked father to son across a century of war, conflict, turmoil and change. It is at once very, very funny, fearlessly candid and exceptionally moving—a supremely entertaining book that will speak to all fathers and sons, as well as the women who love them.

 

Review: Even if you're not familiar with the many literary Waughs, most of us at least recognize Evelyn Waugh, of Brideshead Revisited fame. In this autobiography, Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn Waugh, describes the legacy and complicated father and son relationships that litter his family tree. Beginning with The Brute (his great-great grandfather) down through his own son Auberon, Alexander Waugh details his family tree, including the many writers in the family. In this work, he ruminates on his family legacy, how he will stand up in the face of it, and details the complex characters that are the Waughs.

 

The Waugh family's introduction to the writing world occurred in May 1888 when Arthur Waugh (father to Evelyn) had his poem "Gordon in Africa" published. This event "marked the birth of a remarkable literary dynasty. Works by Waugh have been in continuous print ever since: nine of Arthur's descendants have produced 180 books between them. Novels, plays, poems, essays, histories, travelogues, philosophies and biographies have gushed from our pens in cataracts every since" (41).

 

The father and son relationships throughout the family true are mostly peculiar. They range from Arthur Waugh's fanatical devotion to his eldest son Alec, to Evelyn's cold and lackadaisical parenting style. Arthur hero worshipped his son Alec and likened their relationship as a Christ-like union, "bound together by the nails that pierce through them both" (72). Interesting then, that both of Arthur's sons could scarcely be bothered by their own children. In fact, Evelyn's daughter Teresa reports that her first memory of her frequently absent father was "of a red-faced, uniformed man appearing from a window at Pixton, shouting across the garden: 'For God's sake, someone take those children to the other lawn.'" (277).

 

Just like his forebears, Alexander Waugh is unsentimental and frank on all subjects. I think its probably fairly rare for an individual to be willing to portray their family in such decisive terms, boldly laying bare all flaws. The author's dry sense of humor is laced throughout the book, with no subject spared, including his great-grandfather's inability to quit masturbating despite his father's admonishment to "think of cricket or the day's game" (64) (with a footnote from the author pointing out that cricket is, in fact, a field game played with bats and balls) to Evelyn's death in the bathroom, leading to a small pile of feces on the floor, (which the author argues was Evelyn's final joke).

 

This is a witty inside look at a family full of witty and infamous individuals. It is a story of writers by a skilled writer, who rather than allow his family connection to the subject cloud his perception of the story, allows it to merely give more personal insight. Alexander Waugh is the fourth generation of Waughs to write for a living and as he says, "I suppose, when I think of it, that all of us Waughs only became writers to impress our fathers" (450).

 

Stars: 4