 Jacket of the first UK edition of Vile Bodies | |
| Author | Evelyn Waugh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel, satire |
| Set in | England, late 1920s |
| Publisher | Chapman & Hall |
Publication date | 1930 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 254 |
| ISBN | 0-14-118287-3 |
| OCLC | 42700827 |
| 823.912 | |
| LC Class | PR6045 .A97 |
| Preceded by | Decline and Fall |
| Followed by | Black Mischief |
Vile Bodies is the second novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1930. It satirises the bright young things, the rich young people partying in London after World War I, and the press which fed on their doings. The original title Bright Young Things, which Waugh changed because he thought the phrase had become too clichéd, was used in Stephen Fry's 2003 film adaptation. The eventual title appears in a comment made by the novel's narrator in reference to the characters' party-driven lifestyle: "All that succession and repetition of massed humanity... Those vile bodies...".[1][2] The book was dedicated to B. G. and D. G., Waugh's friends Bryan Guinness and his wife Diana.[3]
- ^ Waugh Vile Bodies, p. 104.
- ^ The name seems to come from the Latin phrase Fiat experimentum in corpore vili ("Let the experiment be done upon a worthless body"), which is cited by James Boswell, Thomas De Quincey, William Makepeace Thackeray and others. The phrase 'vile body' also appears in the King James Bible: "...who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body..." (Epistle to the Philippians 3:21).
- ^ "Obituary: Lady Diana Mosley". BBC. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 26 May 2013.