Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) was an English novelist who writing often dealt with the eccentricities of the old aristocracy as they confronted a fast changing society. The falsely light-hearted descriptive style of the present story conceals the ironical judgement the author has for the fads and pretensions of the English upper caste, who believes in appearances at the expense of any type of sincere human relationships. An Englishman's Home centres around the ebullition which comes to a little English village when a false entrepreneur makes a move on one of the properties, in order supposedly to build a research institute there. This sets the upper-class gentry buzzing with anxiety about the loss of their way of life, as to them all that appertains to the modern world and social development comes with the after-tone of horror. This is because to them modernity implies change and loss of their comfortable sense of privilege, some of which are inherited, others being simply bought privilege. The reaction of the gentleman residents, who are all swiftly described in sharp little sarcastic vignettes, is comical and ineffective, as they bumble about trying to get the authorities to move, always expecting each other to take responsibility for buying over the land from the developer. A comedy of manners follows, where each of them tries to hide from taking responsibility or to rise to any effective course of action. The conclusion comes from an unexpected place. It turns out that the developer is a kind of scammer who goes around looking for unspoilt English villages and buying land on the pretense of setting up research institutes, which he ends up selling at higher prices after the villagers fight to keep their land pristine.
