The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh

The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh (CWEW) will revolutionise Waugh studies, and influence twentieth-century literary and cultural studies more broadly, publishing a vast storehouse of historical and literary documentation. CWEW will greatly expand our knowledge of the range and complexity of Waugh's thinking and artistic practice, linking this to the work of his contemporaries 1903-66 in Britain, America and Europe. No other edition of a British novelist has been undertaken on this scale. About 85% of Waugh's letters are unpublished. CWEW will print all Waugh's extant writings and graphic art: novels, biographies, travel writing, shorter fiction, essays, articles, reportage, reviews, letters, diaries, poems, juvenilia, parerga, drawings and designs in 42 volumes. There has never been a scholarly edition of Waugh's work, the best volumes being Penguin's Modern Classics reissues. These, however, fall far short of rigorous scholarly standards. It was not Penguin's remit to finance large-scale textual scholarship and the editors were hampered by commercial restrictions. The historical context is meagre. Over the last thirty years, Waugh scholarship has made huge strides. Very little of this scholarship, however, has informed editions of Waugh's work. CWEW aims to correct that. Its editors can quote extensively and without charge from Waugh copyright material, a privilege never before available and which now unlocks a hoard of literary treasures. The objective is thoroughly to historicize each text, to provide an authoritative repository of primary source material in an edition that will not 'date' and that will become the seminal source of reference for the foreseeable future. Through this, we hope not only to transform Waugh studies but also studies of his literary circle (e.g. John Betjeman, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Graham Greene, the Sitwells, Anthony Powell, and Muriel Spark), and to enhance studies of Architecture, Art History, History, Film, and textual editing. Volumes will, for example, investigate British, American and French Catholicism, the impact of both world wars, class, politics and Modernist aesthetics in the twentieth century. Print publication was contracted in 2009, the project initiated by Alexander Waugh, Waugh's grandson, who curates the massive Evelyn Waugh Archive. OUP and Alexander Waugh will digitize the letters, diaries, essays, articles and reviews in this archive and all copy-texts for a database available to editors through password-protected access from an interactive website which will include: updated bibliographies, blog space for editors, and an open forum for public engagement inviting information on untraced Waugh material and feedback from the project's many public events. These events, launched by a Colloquium (2013) and International Conference (2015), involve our Project Partners: the Bodleian, British, and Brotherton Libraries, the Humanities Research Center (Texas), the University of Milan, the Waugh Estate and OUP. The website, a unique research tool, will expedite research and offer a world-leading forum for Waugh studies. Since 2009, scholarly development has been led by Martin Stannard and David Bradshaw. As Co-Executive Editor (PI) with Prof. Bradshaw (CI), Prof. Stannard will be project manager in collaboration with Alexander Waugh, the General Editor. Publication will be in two tranches: 2016-17, and 2018-22, eleven volumes of Tranche 1 to appear by Easter 2016 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Waugh's death. The project will fully integrate the career development of a Research Assistant and two doctoral students. All will attend quarterly meetings of the Editorial Board, present annual progress reports to it, and produce conference papers and publications. As crucial figures, they will directly engage with the project's research infrastructure. A dedicated project research area will be created for them in the University of Leicester Library.