General
Alexander Waugh, Literary Scion of a Literary Dynasty, Dies at 60
The brother, son and grandson of famous English writers, he carved out his own space as a composer, critic, columnist and historian.
Alexander Waugh, who throughout his varied career as a composer, columnist and historian bore lightly the weight of his literary inheritance — his father, Auberon, and his grandfather Evelyn were considered among the finest English writers of the 20th century — died on July 22 at his home in Milverton, in southwest England. He was 60.
His sister Daisy Waugh, herself a well-known English novelist, said the cause was cancer.
The Waughs are one of Britain’s greatest literary dynasties, both in their level of acclaim and their sheer output. Beginning with Mr. Waugh’s great-grandfather Arthur, the family has produced nearly 200 books and thousands of pieces of journalism; all four of Auberon Waugh’s children, including Alexander, became writers.
Evelyn Waugh was known for his witty, incisive novels of class and culture, while Auberon perfected a kind of cheeky, conservative journalism that took on the elites and the left in equal measure.
Alexander followed their leads in style and attitude, though his oeuvre ranged much more widely. What he lacked in academic or professional credentials he made up for in writerly energy and general learnedness.
Trained as a musician, he spent several years as an opera critic for The Mail on Sunday newspaper, then for The Evening Standard. He and his brother, Nat, wrote an award-winning musical, “Bon Voyage!,” which they produced in 2000 in London.
He wrote scores of book reviews for The Daily Telegraph, as well as a book on the history of time (“Time: From Micro-Seconds to Millennia; A Search for the Right Time,” 1999) and a “biography” of God (called, simply, “God,” published in 2004).
