June 4, 2016
MarkBernstein.org
 

Decline and Fall

Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh

(order)

(June 4, 2016)

This is a school story that doesn’t care about school or use school to any particular end beyond its unforgettable line: “for anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison.” Even that is asserted, not argued. I suspect that this burlesque of the modern workplace carried a lot more punch in 1928, and though generations of screwball comedy have dulled its edge, this remains a pleasant romp.