![\"Sword](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/512DWbojmeL._SY346_.jpg?w=474&ssl=1\")
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Some of Mr. Churchill\u2019s broadcasts had been played on the mess wireless-set. Guy had found them painfully boastful and they had, most of them, been immediately followed by the news of some disaster, as though in retribution from the God of Kipling\u2019s Recessional<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For Evelyn Waugh,<\/strong> World War II was not a great crusade, or the triumph of western democracies over tyranny. It was the moment (subsequent to the alliance with Stalin) when the West gave up its purpose entirely, and submitted to the whims of totalitarianism.<\/p>\n
The hero of Sword of Honor<\/a><\/em> is Guy Crouchback, scion of an ancient, noble Catholic family in England. As the last of his line, he has failed in his duties of succession through marrying a frivolous Protestant who divorced him and has since moved on to a couple other marriages. Now he can\u2019t marry again under church law. World-weary, he is living in a villa in Italy when the war begins, and he goes home to England to volunteer for service. Eventually he finds a commission in the (fictional) Royal Halbardiers, and later transfers to a Commando unit. An official misapprehension of his status as a security risk generally keeps him out of action, and when he gets into it he gets involved in disasters. Gradually he grows disillusioned with the Great Cause, but he persists in quietly attempting to do his duty, in the midst of increasing absurdity.<\/p>\n
I was reminded of Joseph Heller\u2019s Catch-22<\/em>, in the sense that this is a darkly comic book about the insanity of war. Only Waugh\u2019s presuppositions are very different from Heller\u2019s. His hero longs for a reason to fight \u2013 even to die \u2013 but is denied it. There were also similarities to Graham Greene, another Catholic writer. But Greene admired the Communists and hated Americans, while Waugh loathes the Communists, and find Americans merely vulgar.<\/p>\n
Sword of Honor<\/em> can be very funny, but it\u2019s also rather depressing. The writing, needless to say, is top drawer, with many memorable passages and a full cast of farcical characters.<\/p>\n
Recommended, if you\u2019re looking for this sort of thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of Mr. Churchill\u2019s broadcasts had been played on the mess wireless-set. Guy had found them painfully boastful and they had, most of them, been immediately followed by the news of some disaster, as though in retribution from the God of Kipling\u2019s Recessional. For Evelyn Waugh, World War II was not a great crusade, or … Continue reading ‘Sword of Honor,’ by Evelyn Waugh<\/span>