The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh

The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh (CWEW) will revolutionise Waugh studies, and influence twentieth-century literary and cultural studies more broadly, publishing a vast storehouse of historical and literary documentation. CWEW will greatly expand our knowledge of the range and complexity of Waugh's thinking and artistic practice, linking this to the work of his contemporaries 1903-66 in Britain, America and Europe. No other edition of a British novelist has been undertaken on this scale. About 85% of Waugh's letters are unpublished. CWEW will print all Waugh's extant writings and graphic art: novels, biographies, travel writing, shorter fiction, essays, articles, reportage, reviews, letters, diaries, poems, juvenilia, parerga, drawings and designs in 42 volumes.

There has never been a scholarly edition of Waugh's work, the best volumes being Penguin's Modern Classics reissues. These, however, fall far short of rigorous scholarly standards. It was not Penguin's remit to finance large-scale textual scholarship and the editors were hampered by commercial restrictions. The historical context is meagre. Over the last thirty years, Waugh scholarship has made huge strides. Very little of this scholarship, however, has informed editions of Waugh's work. CWEW aims to correct that. Its editors can quote extensively and without charge from Waugh copyright material, a privilege never before available and which now unlocks a hoard of literary treasures.

The objective is thoroughly to historicize each text, to provide an authoritative repository of primary source material in an edition that will not 'date' and that will become the seminal source of reference for the foreseeable future. Through this, we hope not only to transform Waugh studies but also studies of his literary circle (e.g. John Betjeman, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Graham Greene, the Sitwells, Anthony Powell, and Muriel Spark), and to enhance studies of Architecture, Art History, History, Film, and textual editing. Volumes will, for example, investigate British, American and French Catholicism, the impact of both world wars, class, politics and Modernist aesthetics in the twentieth century.

Print publication was contracted in 2009, the project initiated by Alexander Waugh, Waugh's grandson, who curates the massive Evelyn Waugh Archive. OUP and Alexander Waugh will digitize the letters, diaries, essays, articles and reviews in this archive and all copy-texts for a database available to editors through password-protected access from an interactive website which will include: updated bibliographies, blog space for editors, and an open forum for public engagement inviting information on untraced Waugh material and feedback from the project's many public events. These events, launched by a Colloquium (2013) and International Conference (2015), involve our Project Partners: the Bodleian, British, and Brotherton Libraries, the Humanities Research Center (Texas), the University of Milan, the Waugh Estate and OUP. The website, a unique research tool, will expedite research and offer a world-leading forum for Waugh studies. Since 2009, scholarly development has been led by Martin Stannard and David Bradshaw. As Co-Executive Editor (PI) with Prof. Bradshaw (CI), Prof. Stannard will be project manager in collaboration with Alexander Waugh, the General Editor. Publication will be in two tranches: 2016-17, and 2018-22, eleven volumes of Tranche 1 to appear by Easter 2016 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Waugh's death.

The project will fully integrate the career development of a Research Assistant and two doctoral students. All will attend quarterly meetings of the Editorial Board, present annual progress reports to it, and produce conference papers and publications. As crucial figures, they will directly engage with the project's research infrastructure. A dedicated project research area will be created for them in the University of Leicester Library.

Who will benefit?

Beyond the academic community, the short-term impact of CWEW will be widespread. Waugh remains a popular author, and film and TV adaptations of novels such as Vile Bodies, Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy have maintained his high profile. He is widely studied at GCSE and A level. OUP will vigorously market the edition, to be launched with a Press conference at the Colloquium. Eleven Tranche 1 volumes will be released to coincide with media coverage of the 50th anniversary of Waugh's death. When early editions of the Diaries and Letters appeared, they created a Press furore. The many new letters and the unexpurgated diaries are likely to receive similar coverage. OUP will probably serialise the Personal Writings, and Alexander Waugh and the PI will write related Press articles. There will also be annual podcasts by a professional journalist and numerous public events:

(a) book and MS exhibitions at the HRC, Texas (2016), the Brotherton (2016), the British Library (2017), the Bodleian (2017), and the University of Milan (2018);

(b) study days for school students at the British Library and the University of Leicester (2016);

(c) panel discussions at these events and at literary festivals, involving Alexander Waugh and members of the Editorial Board (2016-18).

An exhibition of rare books, furniture and manuscripts owned by the Waugh family is planned. Philip Dodd and Simon Hollis of Brook Lapping (one of the larger TV/radio independents) are very interested in making a programme to be broadcast on the 50th anniversary. Twitter and Facebook links on the website will advertise events, inviting feedback and archiving it. The Colloquium (July 2013) and International Conference (April 2015) will both be open to the public. These, and events at the 2016 Literary Leicester festival (free and open to the public), and at the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society (2015), will lay the foundations for an international impact strategy.

CWEW provides an accessible, comprehensive repository of all known data on each text. Long-term commercial users will include anyone wanting to make a public statement about Waugh's life or work: film makers, adaptors, radio and news producers, curators et al. The long-term use of the edition by the wider public is also likely to be wide-ranging given Waugh's popular appeal.

How will they benefit?

Massive benefits to the cultural capital of the nation accrue from an edition of this size and quality. It will confirm Waugh's status as a major author alongside, say, Dickens and Hardy, enhancing GB's status as one of the world's centres of literary excellence, improving our historical knowledge and understanding of what it meant to be Catholic and British in the twentieth century, of the cultural impact of both world wars, of class, the fine arts, and politics during Waugh's lifetime, particularly through the unearthing of huge amounts of previously unpublished material. School students' interest will be quickened by discussions of MSS relating to their syllabus texts on study days. Apart from the intellectual benefits, however, there are distinct financial ones, too. A project of this scope creates additional or continued employment in the publishing industry, encourages overseas research students, even tourism through the exhibitions and general high-profile publicity.

Relevance to these benefiaries.

It will improve the nation's wealth and culture, and foster its global economic performance through OUP's international distribution and production network. The timescales for these benefits are those of the two tranches: 2016-2017 for Tranche 1, and 2022 for the completion of Tranche 2, although 2018 for most of it. Thereafter, the effects should continue indefinitely in that the edition is designed not to 'date' and the post-project website will provide a permanent resource for international Waugh studies.