num_pages: 569
description: This trilogy spanning World War II, based in part on Evelyn Waugh's own experiences as an army officer, is the author's surpassing achievement as a novelist. Its central character is Guy Crouchback, head of an ancient but decayed Catholic family, who at first discovers new purpose in the challenge to defend Christian values against Nazi barbarism, but then gradually finds the complexities and cruelties of war overwhelming. Though often somber, Sword of Honor is also a brilliant comedy, peopled by the fantastic figures so familiar from Waugh's early satires. The deepest pleasures these novels afford come from observing a great satiric writer employ his gifts with extraordinary subtlety, delicacy, and human feeling, for purposes that are ultimately anything but satiric.
language: English
title: The Sword of Honour Trilogy: Men at Arms/Officers & Gentlemen/Unconditional Surrender
titlecomplete: The Sword of Honour Trilogy: Men at Arms/Officers & Gentlemen/Unconditional Surrender
genres: Fiction, War, British Literature, Literature, Classics, Novels, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, World War II
ratings_count: 1904
places: England, Greece, Crete, Yugoslavia
series: Sword of Honour
publisher: Penguin UK