The Loved One
Author	Evelyn Waugh
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Satirical, Novel
Publisher	Little, Brown (USA) & Chapman & Hall (UK)
Publication date	February 1948
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	0-14-018249-7
OCLC Number	26887851

The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy (1948) is a short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry.

[edit] Plot summary

In the novel, a young English poet, Dennis Barlow, goes to Los Angeles to live with his uncle, Sir Francis Hinsley, who works at a film studio. When he is fired by the studio, Sir Francis commits suicide, and Dennis goes to the imposing necropolis called Whispering Glades (its details clearly inspired by Forest Lawn, which mesmerized Waugh) to arrange for the funeral. While there, he meets Aimée Thanatogenos, a cosmetician, and competes for her attention with the sinister embalmer Mr. Joyboy. Little did Aimée know that conflicts would soon erupt involving Mr. Joyboy and Mr. Barlow.

[edit] Film adaptation

The book was adapted in 1965 by Terry Southern into a sprawling film of the same name, billed as The motion picture with something to offend everyone! Not particularly true to the book, the film features many in-joke cameos and familiar California filming locations like the Greystone Mansion. Christopher Isherwood worked on an early version of the screenplay and can be glimpsed as one of 'Uncle Frank's' mourners.

[edit] Allusions/references from other works

The 1985 Doctor Who television serial "Revelation of the Daleks" is based on The Loved One. Saward said this in the 2005 DVD commentary for the story; several characters in Tranquil Repose (a space mortuary controlled by Davros) being based upon names from Waugh's novel.

Tom Paxton mentions The Loved One, along with Jessica Mitford's book The American Way of Death, as one of the inspirations for his satirical song "Forest Lawn".^[1]

[edit] Footnotes