Waugh (Evelyn) Autograph Letter signed to Mrs [Bernard] Wall, 2 ½ pp., each 200 x 152mm., on paper headed Combe Florey House, Combe Florey, Nr. Taunton, 21^st January, 1957, critiquing her book "Growing Up", addressing difficulty of writing colloquially and mentioning which contemporaries are successful in doing so, folds.

⁂ An intriguing and unpublished letter from Waugh in which he gives pointers to another writer and singles out contemporaries for praise.

Mrs Bernard Wall was the writer Barbara Lucas. Her husband Bernard edited Colosseum and Changing World, two Catholic magazines popular with religious-minded intellectuals at the time, and was an acquaintance of Waugh's. Growing Up was published in 1956 and Barbara sent Waugh a copy to get his opinion. Waugh begins in a relatively complimentary tone: "The book has humour and some vivid descriptive passages." However, he becomes more critical when addressing her attempt at writing colloquial language: "To me your language was a hotchpotch of Americanisms, girls'-school slang, army jargon etc. which lacked the skill of the masters". He does note though that only "one or two writers have brought this off Anita Loos, P.G. Wodehouse, 'Henry Green' and Rose Macualay in her last novel". The papers of Bernard and Barbara Wall are held at Georgetown University.