What the Bells Sang

Published by Gracewing Publishing  |  April, 2023  |  500 pages | $35.00   Purchase

Book Précis

Acclaimed essayist Edward Short writes with his usual insight and brio on a range of historical, literary and Newmanian matters. Here are essays on the poets Thomas Hardy and Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and Elizabeth Jennings; on the historians G.M. Trevelyan, Christopher Dawson, R.W. Southern and Andrew Roberts; on the novelists Anthony Trollope, Henry James, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh; on the biographers James Grant, Richard Greene and John Batchelor; and on such brilliant thinkers as Edmund Burke and C.S. Lewis. A number of pieces on Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman round out this rich, elegant miscellany. A companion volume to Edward Short’s first essay collection, Adventures in the Book Pages, this new compilation will delight all readers interested in history, literature and the most eloquent of Catholic saints.

Reviews of What the Bells Sang

"As well as being beautifully written and genuinely brave, this book is also wise. It is a remarkable testament to the breadth and profundity of the author's expertise and interests, and the extraordinary depth of his reading. The polymathic Man of Letters might be a disappearing breed in our civilization, but Edward Short is holding out. He should be listed, like a piece of our architectural heritage." Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

"What the Bells Sang displays Edward Short's wide erudition and charming, pellucid style. Reading this collection of essays and reviews, one feels as though one is sitting down with a friend over a pot of good black tea, discussing interesting and profound themes, personalities, and ideas. What Joshua Reynolds once remarked of Dr. Johnson is equally applicable to Mr. Short: 'He cleared my mind of a great deal of rubbish.'" Kenneth Jones, Esq., Catholic World Report

"Edward Short states in his introduction to What The Bells Sang: Essays and Reviews that good reviewing demands 'careful, imaginative, and judicious reading', combined with 'humility and self-effacement' — enough to put any reviewer of his new collection on his mettle. This reviewer would humbly add that a good review must be lively, honest, and, where appropriate, amusing — all features of Short's own work. ...Alongside shots of our elegant author in Venice, the main photo on his website shows him standing near bookshelves containing his books on St John Henry Newman, along with other people's on G. K. Chesterton, P. G. Wodehouse, and Margaret Thatcher. A conservative, pro-life Roman Catholic, who lives with his family in New York City, Short demands attention as a moralist who defends the truth against all foes in a decadent age. ... He proves perceptive and subtle when writing of Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Newman, of course, Thomas Hardy as poet, Christopher Dawson, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, and Evelyn Waugh. Ruskin and Trollope receive honourable mentions, as does Churchill's biographer Andrew Roberts. ... The richness of the book makes it perfect for browsing..." Prof. Michael Wheeler, The Church Times

"Edward Short's trustworthiness as both a moral and literary guide makes What the Bells Sang a perfect 'dipping' book—readers can confidently follow their fancy in reading this or that essay or review in any or no order, and they will be sure to find gold, as well as learning more about authors they may have thought they knew very well indeed. I found this to be true with many of my favorites, including Samuel Johnson, Henry James, C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, and Cardinal Newman. Mr. Short serves up "Evelyn Waugh's Displaced Persons" (devoted to Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy) as the Epilogue of this volume, and surely only a 'good Catholic essayist' could do such justice to both its lighthearted farce and its moving profundity. So well does Mr. Short convey the effervescent comedy of the characters in Waugh's trilogy—including the "prodigal, promiscuous, ingenuous" Virginia—that the reader may not initially be aware of the wisdom being absorbed about the ways of God and man and the immeasurable value of the human person that God so unaccountably loves." Helen Wilson Fielding, The Human Life Review

"In What The Bells Sang Edward Short exhibits playful panache, a cheerful delight in controversy, and a respect for his audience's intelligence. He is a stimulating companion. Buy this book and discover or rediscover for yourself his endlessly engaging conversation." James McGlone, Chesterton Review

Reviews of Edward Short’s previous collection of essays, Adventures in the Book Pages

Adventures in the Book Pages is “a fine collection”—“witty,” “wise,” and “entertaining.” Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald

“If you have never encountered author, reviewer and essayist Edward Short, you are in for a real adventure in the pages of this book; and if you know his work already, you know what to expect from this erudite, articulate writer of both catholic and Catholic interests ... His themes are wide-ranging ... His tone is always judicious ... his style eminently readable.” Richard Ormrod, Faith Magazine

“Edward Short is ... a gentleman scholar, enjoyably opinionated, engagingly well- informed, and, flatteringly, he expects his readers to have similar qualities ...The volume is thoroughly catholic ... I was duly beguiled.” James McGlone, Chesterton Review

“Adventures in the Book Pages is a romp and a marvel. I can’t decide which is its most winning attribute, erudition, range or elegance of expression. So let’s call it a photo finish.” James Grant, author of Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian