What Does It Mean To Be Nice?

Evelyn Waugh was many things but he was not a nice man. He was many fine things, as a person as well as a novelist: witty, charming and lavishly if inconsistently generous. But nice? No.

Actually, he was cruel and neglectful. When his wife was giving birth, he made himself scarce. When his son, Auberon, was in hospital after accidentally shooting himsel…