Editing Evelyn Waugh (section)

== Early career ==

=== Teaching and writing ===

[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti 001.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], the subject of Waugh's first full-length book (1927)]]
Waugh began at Heatherley's in late September 1924, but became bored with the routine and quickly abandoned his course.<ref>Waugh, ''A Little Learning'', pp. 210–212</ref> He spent weeks partying in London and Oxford before the overriding need for money led him to apply through an agency for a teaching job. Almost at once, he secured a post at [[Arnold House, Llanddulas|Arnold House]], a boys' [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] in [[North Wales]], beginning in January 1925, and staying at [[Plas Dulas]] nearby. He took with him the notes for his novel, ''The Temple at Thatch'', intending to work on it in his spare time. Despite the gloomy ambience of the school, Waugh did his best to fulfil the requirements of his position, but a brief return to London and Oxford during the Easter holiday only exacerbated his sense of isolation.<ref>Hastings, pp. 116–134</ref>

In the summer of 1925, Waugh's outlook briefly improved, with the prospect of a job in [[Pisa]], Italy, as secretary to the Scottish writer [[C. K. Scott Moncrieff]], who was engaged on the English translations of [[Marcel Proust]]'s works. Believing that the job was his, Waugh resigned his position at Arnold House. He had meantime sent the early chapters of his novel to Acton for assessment and criticism. Acton's reply was so coolly dismissive that Waugh immediately burnt his manuscript; shortly afterwards, before he left [[North Wales]], he learned that the Moncrieff job had fallen through.<ref>Stannard, Vol. I p. 112</ref> The twin blows were sufficient for him to consider suicide. He records that he went down to a nearby beach and, leaving a note with his clothes, walked out to sea. An attack by jellyfish changed his mind, and he returned quickly to the shore.<ref>Waugh, ''A Little Learning'', pp. 228–230</ref>

During the following two years Waugh taught at schools in [[Aston Clinton]] in [[Buckinghamshire]] (from which he was dismissed for the attempted drunken seduction of a school matron) and [[Notting Hill]] in London.<ref>Hastings, pp. 148–149</ref> He considered alternative careers in printing or cabinet-making, and attended evening classes in carpentry at Holborn Polytechnic while continuing to write.<ref>Stannard, Vol. I pp. 145–247</ref> A short story, "The Balance", written in an experimental [[modernist literature|modernist]] style, became his first commercially published fiction, when it was included by Chapman and Hall in a 1926 anthology, ''Georgian Stories''.<ref>Patey, pp. 19–20</ref> An extended essay on the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] was printed privately by Alastair Graham, using by agreement the press of the [[Shakespeare Head Press]] in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], where he was undergoing training as a printer.<ref>Stannard, Vol. I p. 505</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Doyle |first=Paul A. |title=Some Unpublished Waugh Correspondence III |url=http://www.abbotshill.freeserve.co.uk/EWN5-1.htm |journal=Evelyn Waugh Newsletter |volume=5 |issue=1 |date=Spring 1971 |access-date=17 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610021305/http://www.abbotshill.freeserve.co.uk/EWN5-1.htm |archive-date=10 June 2011 }}</ref> This led to a contract from the publishers [[Gerald Duckworth and Company|Duckworths]] for a full-length biography of [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], which Waugh wrote during 1927.<ref name= Sykes73>Sykes, pp. 73–75</ref> He also began working on a [[comic novel]]; after several temporary working titles this became ''[[Decline and Fall]]''.<ref>Waugh diaries, 3 and 4 September 1927: Davie (ed.), p. 289</ref><ref name= Hastings168>Hastings, pp. 168–170</ref> Having given up teaching, he had no regular employment except for a short, unsuccessful stint as a reporter on the ''[[Daily Express]]'' in April–May 1927.<ref>Sykes, pp. 72–73</ref> That year he met (possibly through his brother Alec) and fell in love with [[Evelyn Gardner]], the daughter of [[Herbert Gardner, 1st Baron Burghclere|Lord and Lady Burghclere]].<ref>Hastings, pp. 152–153</ref>

=== "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn" ===

[[File:069 Canonbury Square.jpg|thumb|upright|Canonbury Square, where Waugh and Evelyn Gardner lived during their brief marriage]]
In December 1927, Waugh and Evelyn Gardner became engaged, despite the opposition of Lady Burghclere, who felt that Waugh lacked moral fibre and kept unsuitable company.<ref>Hastings, pp. 164–165</ref> Among their friends, they quickly became known as "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn".<ref name= StannardODNB/> Waugh was at this time dependent on a £4-a-week allowance ({{Inflation|UK|4|1927|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) from his father and the small sums he could earn from book reviewing and journalism.<ref>Hastings, pp. 160–161</ref> The Rossetti biography was published to a generally favourable reception in April 1928: [[J. C. Squire]] in ''The Observer'' praised the book's elegance and wit; Acton gave cautious approval; and the novelist [[Rebecca West]] wrote to express how much she had enjoyed the book. Less pleasing to Waugh were the ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]''{{'}}s references to him as "Miss Waugh".<ref name= Hastings168/>

When ''Decline and Fall'' was completed, Duckworths objected to its "obscenity", but [[Chapman & Hall]] agreed to publish it.<ref>Sykes, p. 84</ref> This was sufficient for Waugh and Gardner to bring forward their wedding plans. They were married in St Paul's Church, [[Portman Square]], on 27 June 1928, with only Acton, [[Robert Byron (travel writer)|Robert Byron]], Alec Waugh and the bride's friend [[Lady Pansy Lamb|Pansy Pakenham]] present.<ref>Hastings, pp. 175–176</ref> The couple made their home in a small flat in [[Canonbury Square]], [[Islington]].<ref>Stannard, Vol. I p. 157</ref> The first months of the marriage were overshadowed by a lack of money, and by Gardner's poor health, which persisted into the autumn.<ref>Hastings, pp. 177–179</ref>

In September 1928, ''Decline and Fall'' was published to almost unanimous praise. By December, the book was into its third printing, and the American publishing rights were sold for $500.<ref>Hastings, pp. 180–182</ref> In the afterglow of his success, Waugh was commissioned to write travel articles in return for a free [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] cruise, which he and Gardner began in February 1929, as an extended, delayed honeymoon. The trip was disrupted when Gardner contracted [[pneumonia]] and was carried ashore to the British hospital in [[Port Said]]. The couple returned home in June, after her recovery. A month later, without warning, Gardner confessed that their mutual friend, [[John Heygate]], had become her lover. After an attempted reconciliation failed, a shocked and dismayed Waugh filed for divorce on 3 September 1929. The couple apparently met again only once, during the process for the [[annulment]] of their marriage a few years later.<ref>Davie (ed.), pp. 305–306</ref>