I found this photograph on Google images. "Two friends" travel around taking pictures of famous monuments and city attractions, but here's the kicker: They include a can of beans to every shot. Photo of the Great Wall of China and a can of beans. Photo of France and something Frenchy plus a can of beans. Forest Lawns Cemetery and you-guessed-it: a can of beans. Their website is cleverly titled Beans-Around-The-World.
Call it what you will. I won't say it's funny. Or satire. Or parody. Or anything really. Maybe a waste of time if you decide to visit their website.
Any way, here is Evelyn Waugh's essay Half in Love with Easeful Death. It was published in 1947. A year later came The Loved One.
How does the essay compare with the novel? How is it dramatized? What is missing?
Here is Forest Lawn today. And here is a history. It's funny how much Forest Lawn hasn't changed. It's still ridiculously over-the-top. Click on Memorial Property and you'll see what Waugh was making fun of when he writes about disposal options: "Normal disposal is by inhumement, entombment, inurnment or immurement, but many people just lately prefer insarcophagusment."
It's absurd, yes, but it's real as we can see by the list of Memorial Property Types.
Looking at the website, what else was Waugh commenting on? What has changed? What hasn't changed?
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