The loss of traditional values and continuance of faith in Evelyn Waugh's novels

For Evelyn Waugh, «the loss of traditional values was both a symptom and a cause of religious decline, but the continuance of faith was ineluctable, the sole guarantee of mankind's place in the order of things.» (Auberon Waugh in the Foreword). The following study analyses three of Waugh's novels, A Handful of Dust, Brideshead Revisited and Sword of Honour, in the light of a combination of themes as yet ignored by other critics. In order to demonstrate how much fact underlies Waugh's fiction, each novel is placed in the context of his life. Moreover, Waugh's own definitions of «traditional values» and «faith» as propounded in his novels have been compared with his views as expressed in his non-fictional works.