Editing Evelyn Waugh (section)

=== Recognition ===

Waugh's first biographer, [[Christopher Sykes (author)|Christopher Sykes]], records that after the divorce friends "saw, or believed they saw, a new hardness and bitterness" in Waugh's outlook.<ref>Sykes, p. 96</ref> Nevertheless, despite a letter to Acton in which he wrote that he "did not know it was possible to be so miserable and live",<ref name= Amory39>Amory (ed.), p. 39</ref> he soon resumed his professional and social life. He finished his second novel, ''[[Vile Bodies]]'',<ref name= Patey33/> and wrote articles including (ironically, he thought) one for the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' on the meaning of the marriage ceremony.<ref name= Amory39/> During this period Waugh began the practice of staying at the various houses of his friends; he was to have no settled home for the next eight years.<ref name= Patey33/>

''Vile Bodies'', a satire on the [[Bright Young People]] of the 1920s, was published on 19 January 1930 and was Waugh's first major commercial success. Despite its quasi-biblical title, the book is dark, bitter, "a manifesto of disillusionment", according to biographer Martin Stannard.<ref>Stannard, Vol. I pp. 203–204</ref> As a best-selling author Waugh could now command larger fees for his journalism.<ref name= Patey33>Patey, pp. 33–34</ref> Amid regular work for ''[[The Graphic]]'', ''[[Town and Country (magazine)|Town and Country]]'' and ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'', he quickly wrote ''Labels'', a detached account of his honeymoon cruise with She-Evelyn.<ref name= Patey33/>