Harold Acton saw him as a 'prancing faun'. Waugh saw himself as 'always seeking dark and musty seclusions like an animal preparing to whelp'. In this critical work, Dr McDonnell considers those biographical elements which contributed to Waugh's pessimistic view of the human race as sometimes being the lowest form of life as well as his conflicting religious belief that man was 'Gods creature with a defined purpose'. For the student and general reader, this book offers fresh insights into Waugh the man, and Waugh the writer. Using her own interviews with some of Waugh's contemporaries, such as Lady Diana Cooper, Lady Betjeman and Lord Longford, Dr McDonnell also draws on Waugh's letters, diaries and essays as well as the vast amount of unpublished material held by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in Texas. Close attention is given to Waugh's prose style, the part he played in influencing other modern novelists, and his own critical reception.