The Complete Stories

By: Evelyn Waugh

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

A "lavishly entertaining" (Publishers Weekly) distillation of Waugh's genius--abundant evidence that one of the twentieth century's most admired and enjoyed English novelists was also a master of the short form.
Evelyn Waugh's short fiction reveals in miniaturized perfection the elements that made him the greatest satirist of the twentieth century. The stories collected here range from delightfully barbed portraits of the British upper classes to an alternative ending to Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust; from a "missing chapter" in the life of Charles Ryder, the nostalgic hero of Brideshead Revisited, to a plot-packed morality tale that Waugh composed at a very tender age; from an epistolary lark in the voice of "a young lady of leisure" to a darkly comic tale of scandal in a remote (and imaginary) African outpost.

Chapter 24 : A different view of Waugh?

Chapter 24 is a story about a group of 102 Jews in Yugoslavia at the very end of WW 2.
It is told strangely for Waugh, no attempt at humor, just a kind of “matter of fact realism”. It is close to a tragedy. A matter of fact Scottish major who found himself in a situation where he could do some good for 100 displaced and still very vulnerable “ Jews “ and really tried to do good in a “matter of fact “ way. It seems that all the Brits and Americans ( or the Brits and Americans as a whole) did want to do good for this 100 person remnant ( mostly old), who had somehow by chance managed to survive. Two were individually worthwhile, not having succumbed to the miserable depression that infected holocaust victims. The major particularly wanted not only to “ save” but actually help these 2 in a human way. He was a man better than ourselves because he actually tried to help as a human being and as a British officer. We knew all along that he would fail in some way, and while the other 100 did survive, the Major’s human kindness and the humanity clung to by the two Jews ended in their murder.
Truly a story that aroused “ pity and fear” and a deep respect for good government which makes the avoidance of tragedy possible.

Chips from the Master's Bench

What made the experience of listening to The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh the most enjoyable?

The narrator is top notch. Couldn't be better.

If you’ve listened to books by Evelyn Waugh before, how does this one compare?

Good, but not great. Read this one last.

Which scene was your favorite?

"Scott-King's Modern Europe" was just brilliant. Vintage Evelyn Waugh.

If you could take any character from The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Not a one of them. They're all perfectly awful.

MORE than actual print book!

Great set of stories. I had downloaded this awhile back, and occasionally listen to it as I'm trying to fall asleep...decided to buy the paperback as I keep missing the ends of stories as I fall asleep! Well, what I realized one day while listening to the Audible version is that there is extra stuff on it that is not in the print book! After what matches up to be the final story in the print book, there are, on the Audible book, several stories, which the narrator titles "Juvenalia." Yes, these are stories that Waugh wrote starting at the age of 10. They are listed on his Wikipedia page..there are 14 of them. So it's great that Audible and/or whoever originally produced this put these on here.

Evelyn Waugh sampler, just short stories-

Very confusing, frustrating to listen to. I kept thinking I'd missed something until I read the other reviews. "Complete Stories" a very misleading title. Waugh is my favorite author. Favorite book: Decline and Fall.