Vile Bodies

Adam rang up Nina.
‘Darling, I’ve been so happy about your telegram. Is it really true?’
‘No, I’m afraid not.’
‘The Major is bogus?’
‘Yes.’
‘You haven’t got any money?’
‘No.’
‘We aren’t going to be married to-day?’
‘No.’
‘I see.’
‘Well?’
‘I said, I see.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Yes, that’s all, Adam.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry, too. Good-bye.’
‘Goodbye, Nina.’
Later Nina rang up Adam.
‘Darling, is that you? I’ve got something rather awful to tell you.’
‘Yes?’
‘You’ll be furious.’
‘Well?’
‘I’m engaged to be married.’
‘Who to?’
‘I hardly think I can tell you.’
‘Who?’
‘Adam, you won’t be beastly about it, will you?’
‘Who is it?’
‘Ginger.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Well, I am. That’s all there is to it.’
‘You’re going to marry Ginger?’
‘Yes.’
‘I see.’
‘Well?’
‘I said, I see.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Yes, that’s all, Nina.’
‘When shall I see you?’
‘I don’t want ever to see you again.’
‘I see.’
‘Well?’
‘I said, I see.’
‘Well, good-bye.’
‘Good-bye. . . I’m sorry, Adam.’

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Described by Evelyn Waugh as ‘the first English novel in which dialogue on the telephone plays a large part’, Vile Bodies is a satire of the glamorous but meaningless lives of the Bright Young Things, high-class young adults who are constantly engaged in reckless party-going and drinking. Its protagonist, Adam Fenwick-Symes is a penniless budding writer who intends to marry wealthy heiress Nina Blount, but their relationship suffers from a comic series of unfortunate events which lead it to the brink of dissolution as a result of Adam’s inability to achieve financial security. Adam and Nina’s relationship is conducted largely on the telephone; Adam regularly rings Nina to confirm or disallow their marriage, but the medium remains a passive and insensitive receptacle, impervious to their affective states. Despite Adam and Nina’s attempts to elicit emotional responses from each other, their linguistic expression is detached and unable to bridge the barrier erected by the line. Such exchange portrays the telephone as an impersonal technology incapable of shaping personal relationships, pointing to Waugh’s nostalgia for a lost world of unmediated communications.

by Beatriz Lopez