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Love Among the Ruins: A Romance of the Near Future
From Wikipedia:
"Love Among the Ruins is a satire set in a dystopian quasi-egalitarian Britain. The protagonist, Miles Plastic, is an orphan who at the beginning of the story is finishing a prison term for arson. Crime is treated very leniently by the state, and conditions in prison are actually quite superior to those among the population at large, leading to an understandably high recidivism rate. Upon release, Plastic goes to work at a state-run euthanasia center. The centers are not restricted to the terminally ill and are so popular that Plastic's sole responsibility is to stem "the too eager rush" of perfectly healthy but "welfare weary" citizens..."
"Love Among the Ruins is a satire set in a dystopian quasi-egalitarian Britain. The protagonist, Miles Plastic, is an orphan who at the beginning of the story is finishing a prison term for arson. Crime is treated very leniently by the state, and conditions in prison are actually quite superior to those among the population at large, leading to an understandably high recidivism rate. Upon release, Plastic goes to work at a state-run euthanasia center. The centers are not restricted to the terminally ill and are so popular that Plastic's sole responsibility is to stem "the too eager rush" of perfectly healthy but "welfare weary" citizens..."
51 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1953
About the author
Evelyn Waugh
332 books2,517 followersEvelyn Waugh's father Arthur was a noted editor and publisher. His only sibling Alec also became a writer of note. In fact, his book “The Loom of Youth” (1917) a novel about his old boarding school Sherborne caused Evelyn to be expelled from there and placed at Lancing College. He said of his time there, “…the whole of English education when I was brought up was to produce prose writers; it was all we were taught, really.” He went on to Hertford College, Oxford, where he read History. When asked if he took up any sports there he quipped, “I drank for Hertford.”
In 1924 Waugh left Oxford without taking his degree. After inglorious stints as a school teacher (he was dismissed for trying to seduce a school matron and/or inebriation), an apprentice cabinet maker and journalist, he wrote and had published his first novel, “Decline and Fall” in 1928.
In 1928 he married Evelyn Gardiner. She proved unfaithful, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Waugh would derive parts of “A Handful of Dust” from this unhappy time. His second marriage to Audrey Herbert lasted the rest of his life and begat seven children. It was during this time that he converted to Catholicism.
During the thirties Waugh produced one gem after another. From this decade come: “Vile Bodies” (1930), “Black Mischief” (1932), the incomparable “A Handful of Dust” (1934) and “Scoop” (1938). After the Second World War he published what is for many his masterpiece, “Brideshead Revisited,” in which his Catholicism took centre stage. “The Loved One” a scathing satire of the American death industry followed in 1947. After publishing his “Sword of Honour Trilogy” about his experiences in World War II - “Men at Arms” (1952), “Officers and Gentlemen” (1955), “Unconditional Surrender" (1961) - his career was seen to be on the wane. In fact, “Basil Seal Rides Again” (1963) - his last published novel - received little critical or commercial attention.
Evelyn Waugh, considered by many to be the greatest satirical novelist of his day, died on 10 April 1966 at the age of 62.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_W...
In 1924 Waugh left Oxford without taking his degree. After inglorious stints as a school teacher (he was dismissed for trying to seduce a school matron and/or inebriation), an apprentice cabinet maker and journalist, he wrote and had published his first novel, “Decline and Fall” in 1928.
In 1928 he married Evelyn Gardiner. She proved unfaithful, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Waugh would derive parts of “A Handful of Dust” from this unhappy time. His second marriage to Audrey Herbert lasted the rest of his life and begat seven children. It was during this time that he converted to Catholicism.
During the thirties Waugh produced one gem after another. From this decade come: “Vile Bodies” (1930), “Black Mischief” (1932), the incomparable “A Handful of Dust” (1934) and “Scoop” (1938). After the Second World War he published what is for many his masterpiece, “Brideshead Revisited,” in which his Catholicism took centre stage. “The Loved One” a scathing satire of the American death industry followed in 1947. After publishing his “Sword of Honour Trilogy” about his experiences in World War II - “Men at Arms” (1952), “Officers and Gentlemen” (1955), “Unconditional Surrender" (1961) - his career was seen to be on the wane. In fact, “Basil Seal Rides Again” (1963) - his last published novel - received little critical or commercial attention.
Evelyn Waugh, considered by many to be the greatest satirical novelist of his day, died on 10 April 1966 at the age of 62.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_W...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 18, 2018
Very short dystopian novella published in 1952, in response to the socialist programs of Clement Atlee’s post-WWII Labour government. Accurately predicts the breakdown of traditional bonds, institutions, and ways of life—the subjects of the State in this story are so helpless they can’t even kill themselves, but queue up for days at the Ministry of Euthanasia—as well as the hollowing out of people’s souls.
Left me wanting more. I wish Waugh had given this novel-length treatment. It would have made an interesting comparison for Orwell’s near-contemporaneous 1984. As a dystopia, it falls closer to Brave New World with some of the hiveminded bureaucratic overtones of Zemyatin’s We. A good read nonetheless.
Left me wanting more. I wish Waugh had given this novel-length treatment. It would have made an interesting comparison for Orwell’s near-contemporaneous 1984. As a dystopia, it falls closer to Brave New World with some of the hiveminded bureaucratic overtones of Zemyatin’s We. A good read nonetheless.
August 11, 2014
Largely a polemic against the English welfare state, the unlikely and implausible future we're asked to consider in this novella is one in which criminals have more rights and a better life than non-criminals.
The idea that this is somehow likely or plausible is bizarre and outlandish; all sorts of libertarian thinkers have pointed to this book as the future that they think our world is leading to.
Waugh is a talented writer. He's no Ayn Rand. Regardless, I still didn't enjoy reading this book.
The idea that this is somehow likely or plausible is bizarre and outlandish; all sorts of libertarian thinkers have pointed to this book as the future that they think our world is leading to.
Waugh is a talented writer. He's no Ayn Rand. Regardless, I still didn't enjoy reading this book.
June 28, 2019
Read for the PopSugar Challenge 2019
47.Two books that share the same title (1)
A satire of moral relativism and progressive politics that could've been written just yesterday. This novel starring Miles Plastic as the product of an absurdly conceived welfare state, is drenched in sarcasm and wit.
Waugh shows a world where criminals are rewarded in plush housing and comfortable lives, with assured jobs for the government, where contraception, sterilization and euthanasia are widespread, the latter being desired even "for difficult children".
The classical Greek style illustrations add a particular oddness to the book.
Next book to be paired with this one is Robert Clark's Love Among the Ruins
47.Two books that share the same title (1)
A satire of moral relativism and progressive politics that could've been written just yesterday. This novel starring Miles Plastic as the product of an absurdly conceived welfare state, is drenched in sarcasm and wit.
Waugh shows a world where criminals are rewarded in plush housing and comfortable lives, with assured jobs for the government, where contraception, sterilization and euthanasia are widespread, the latter being desired even "for difficult children".
The classical Greek style illustrations add a particular oddness to the book.
Next book to be paired with this one is Robert Clark's Love Among the Ruins
March 16, 2014
Prescient. Yes?
December 11, 2014
Read three times, each time with greater pleasure. Don't miss the illustrations, which are included in the Kindle edition of the "Complete Stories."
January 24, 2019
This is a futuristic political satire, where life in prison is preferable to life outside it. Speculative fiction is not Waugh's forte, but this book is still very funny.
December 3, 2019
Love Among the Ruins: A Romance of the Near Future by Evelyn Waugh is a sad love story. The protagonist, Miles Plastic, lives in a world where inmates are treated better than the good people who live outside of prison. Hence, the inmates sometimes relapse. Plastic was almost finishing his prison term for arson until he fell in love with Clara, a bearded woman. The story picks up after they started the romance between them, and it ended in a tragic tone.
September 21, 2021
Neither the critics nor Waugh rated this 50-page anti-socialist fable highly, and I'm with them. Waugh is a very erratic writer, as befits such a tormented chap, but this is hands down the worst of him I've read. I still give it three stars for trying something new (as he often did), but really none for the execution. It's hard to believe that this is the author of 'Decline and Fall', 'Vile Bodies' and 'Scoop', or even 'Brideshead Revisited'.
March 13, 2019
An interesting and enjoyable bit of speculative fiction from Evelyn Waugh. Speculative in the sense of "engaged in, expressing, or based on conjecture rather than knowledge." Interesting to see Waugh's detailed specifications for the handbasket he imagined England going hell in. Enjoyable because all Evelyn Waugh's fiction is enjoyable.
February 23, 2024
Waugh's comic extrapolation of the Welfare State of the Near Future is short and quite funny. Redolent of some other dystopian fiction from the other end of the political spectrum by Alasdair Gray. Illustrations are rather drole. The 51 pages was barely longer than my commute.
July 8, 2018
Like a tasty little snack this novella satisfies with satire and oddness in a dystopian setting.
June 10, 2020
Some interesting themes and ideas.
March 20, 2022
Evelyn Waugh's response to Orwell's nineteen eighty-four. I thought I had read most of the dystopian works from that time. Three stars because mostly an in substantial work.
December 28, 2022
Frontispiece is a parody of Canova's Psyche
May 18, 2020
Kinda interesting dystopian idea but it feels unfinished
Read
April 21, 2022EVELYN WAUGH WROTE DYSTOPIAN FICTION?!?!
YAY.
Extremely eager to get ahold of this, especially after contemplating the extreme and disturbing relevance of Ray Bradbury's 2BR02B and working on my own dystopian euthanasia-centric show-trial story. Good consort for the Gulag Archipelago.
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Update: meh.
YAY.
Extremely eager to get ahold of this, especially after contemplating the extreme and disturbing relevance of Ray Bradbury's 2BR02B and working on my own dystopian euthanasia-centric show-trial story. Good consort for the Gulag Archipelago.
---
Update: meh.
February 25, 2016
Unrelenting and hilarious.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews