The Loved One - Publication and Reception

Publication and Reception

Waugh began writing The Loved One in May 1947. After initial "very slow" going, he finished the first draft in early July and completed the novel in September.. It was published in its entirety by Cyril Connolly in the February 1948 issue of Horizon. (Hinsley is seen reading a copy of Horizon in the opening chapter of The Loved One.) It was enthusiastically greeted by readers who thought Waugh had returned to early form with this short comic novel, but later critics have felt that this caused audiences to overrate the book.

The novel was successfully published in America as well, though Waugh had feared lawsuits so much that he employed his friend Lord Stanley of Alderley to add a codicil to his will instructing that he be buried at Forest Lawn.. Waugh also claimed that American morticians would refuse to service his body should he die in the US. The novel was well-reviewed, however, and sales were good.

The New Yorker, though, refused to publish the novel because they thought the themes of the novel had already been well-handled by American authors, such as S. J. Perelman, Sinclair Lewis, and Nathaniel West, the later of whom had written two novels on themes (Hollywood studios and advice columnists) Waugh tackled in The Loved One. The magazine wrote "The freshest part of Mr. Waugh's story is the part which refers to the English in Hollywood, and we wish, wistfully, that he had concerned himself more exclusively with that theme."