What is the book A Handful of Dust about?
A Handful of Dust, satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1934. The novel, which is often considered Waugh’s best, examines the themes of contemporary amorality and the death of spiritual values.
Who dies in A Handful of Dust?
The marriage of English country gentleman Tony Last and his wife Brenda is falling apart as Brenda begins an affair with social climber John Beaver. When the Lasts’ eight-year-old son, John Andrew, is killed in a riding accident, Brenda informs Tony of her affair and her wishes for a divorce so she can marry Beaver.
What is the meaning of A Handful of Dust?
Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land, ‘I will show you fear in a handful of dust’ stands out for its sinister suggestions of death, mortality, and the ultimate futility of all human endeavour. Such an idea was expressed – using that very same expression, ‘a handful of dust’ – long before Eliot wrote The Waste Land.
Where is hetton in A Handful of Dust?
A less well known Evelyn Waugh adaptation is the 1988 film of A Handful of Dust. This film used Carlton Towers in Yorkshire as the location for Hetton Abbey. In the novel the house is a Victorian reconstruction in neo-Gothic which is the pride and joy of the main character, Tony Last.
Who wrote Man Who Liked Dickens?
Short Story #48: The Man Who Liked Dickens by Evelyn Waugh.
What happens to Brenda in A Handful of Dust?
After the funeral, she tells Tony that she wants a divorce so that she can marry Beaver. On his return, he says, Brenda may have her divorce, but without any financial settlement. With no prospect of Tony’s money, Beaver loses interest in Brenda, who is left adrift and in poverty.
Who said I will show you fear in a handful of dust?
The poem from which the line was taken, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste land, is considered one of the most important early 20th century poems, announcing the ascendency of modernism in poetry – there was little appetite for 19th c. romanticism after the First World War.
What happens at the end of a handful of dust?
When Tony awakes he learns that his hopes of rescue are gone, and that he is condemned to read Dickens to his captor indefinitely. Back in England, Tony’s death is accepted; Hetton passes to his cousins, who erect a memorial to him.
How does McMaster explain when Henty asked about his wrist watch?
When Henty notes that his watch is missing, McMaster explains that he gave it to the nice men who had come by looking for him to give to his wife at home. Henty realizes that not only has he missed the rescue mission but with the watch, they will take him for dead.
What year was A Handful of Dust filmed?
1988
A Handful of Dust/Initial release
What does Those are pearls that were his eyes mean?
More than once, Eliot draws on the famous line spoken by the magical Ariel that “[t]hose are pearls that were his eyes.” It is a choice line for Eliot’s poem, as in Shakespeare’s play Ferdinand it tricked into believing that his father is dead from a shipwreck and his body now lies far underneath the water.
How long is the Wasteland by TS Eliot?
Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of Eliot’s The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form in December 1922.