User:Sayerslle/Waugh in Abyssinia

Waugh in Abyssinia is a book by Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1936. The journalist William Deedes, who was also in Abyssinia in 1935 to cover the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and who met Evelyn Waugh there, described the book as 'pro-italian and controversial' . A much shortened version, A War in 1935 appeared with four other accounts of Waugh's travels in When the Going was Good (1946). The book comprises three sections - the first , a historical resume of the situation , politics and power shifts, as Waugh perceived them, the second section, his own experience as a war correspondent, the third a 'eulogy to the conquerors' achievement.' 'Except in the Catholic press, Waugh in Abyssinia did not have a notably favourable reception - the authors contempt for the Abyssinians and his adulation for their Italian aggressors was not a popular stance in Britain.'

" 'the Spaniard' -was vivacious and swarthy and stout - 'I am the most important and expensive man on my paper' he said. English editors would not send anyone whose life they valued on a job of this kind we told him.

Waugh arrived in Ethiopia on 20 August 1935 - to cover events for the pro-Mussolini, Daily Mail. On 22 September 1935 the Italians delivered their final terms to the League of Geneva. Their demand for the cession of Abyssinian territory linking Eritrea and Italian Somaliland would have had the effect of bringing Addis Ababa on to Italian soil. The war began on 3 October 1935. At the beginning of December, 'and enormously to his relief' Waugh was recalled. He returned to London - (via the Holy land, Baghdad, Damascus, and Rome, where he obtained an interview with Mussolini, 'Evelyn was impressed with Mussolini' ) - at the beginning of January 1936, and almost at once began work on the book. He returned in August 1936, to gather material for his concluding chapters.