Explorations Read-Aloud: “The Loved One” by Evelyn Waugh

Every Friday, at 11:00 am, on the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, the library will stream a brand new recording of local thespian, Joseph Coté reading aloud selections from a wide variety of fascinating and entertaining books of fiction and non-fiction.

For November 22, Coté will read aloud from Evelyn Waugh’s novel The Loved One.

Summary:  Combine the funeral business in Los Angeles, the Hollywood film industry and the haughty British expatriate community – all smothering Dennis Barlow, a celebrated 28-year-old British poet who is brought to Tinseltown to write a script for a film biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Success is not in the cards. He is so-suddenly fired from that job and, as the novel opens, he is working for the Happier Hunting Ground, a funeral service for pets – “and ignominious-nay-shameful vulgar job.”

A sad irony of life: People pay thousands to bury a relative they hate, but balk at paying ten bucks to cremate the dog who stood by them for a decade.

Barlow’s reputation hangs in the balance if his snobby British ex-pat friends and acquaintances discover his secret.

Socially, he frequently quotes lines of poetry in his speech and writing, especially when he is wooing Aimée Thanatogenos whom he allows to believe he is the author of those lines.

The sources include Alfred Tennyson, Edgar Allan Poe, and others. One quotation, from the poet Richard Middleton, was not publicly identified until 1981, 33 years after the publication of The Loved One

A biting cultural satire that juxtaposes the shallowness of façade with the deep, long-lasting consequences of reputation.

Click the links to find the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page.

Thoughts to share? Book ideas to suggest?
Contact Joseph at friday-explorations@usa.net