His isolated characters represent a civilization in decline. Leavened with quite a lot more humor, Waugh is taking on the same theme in A Handful of Dust. I think we can all agree, though, that it is centered around a dying civilization, or, perhaps better, a decaying civilization - civilization already being dead. Its imagery, both of the city and of sex, and set pieces of conversation between lonely souls feel so sad, so dry. I devoted a chapter of my masters thesis on that nasty poem I can tell you an awful lot about it and its allusions, though I still don’t understand it all and could not explain it. I will show you fear in a handful of dust. Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you Your shadow at morning striding behind you
I will show you something different from either The title comes from one of my favorite poems (and one I’ve hated too), The Waste Land by T.S.
I remembered immediately why I fell for Waugh in the first place. After over a year of neglect, I decided it was time to visit Waugh again and read what some consider his best work, A Handful of Dust. I have several Waugh novels sitting on my shelf due to my sudden infatuation with his writing in late 2008. Just those two books made me start boasting that Waugh was one of my favorite authors.
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