Brideshead Revisited in a complex and beautifully written tale of nostalgia for a faith and aristocratic...

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	• Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh Back Bay Books, 1999 - 351 pages average customer review:based on 102 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brideshead holds up!

I loved the Masterpiece Theater production of Brideshead Revisited quite a few years ago. I made the mistake of seeing the latest film version and was aghast. I did not have a copy of the book, and Amazon came immediately to the rescue! Reading the book not only brought back the wonderful experience of the PBS version with its magnificent performances, but it was a terrific read as well. May D

Brideshead Revisited in a complex and beautifully written tale of nostalgia for a faith and aristocratic way of life

Brideshead Revisited was published in 1944 and has won its place as the most famous and beloved work of its prolific author Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966). Waugh was a British aristocrat, alcoholic and a devout Roman Catholic. He was a conservative and a snob. The man could, however, write with power, passion and keen skills of observation.
The 300 page novel is narrated by Charles Ryder. Ryder is a middle class chap who aspires to be a painter. His father is distant and dull; his mother was killed during World War I. Charles enters Oxford quickly becoming acquainted with a bohemian set. Homoeroticism is normative in this group led by the outre Anthony Patch. Charles becomes acquainted with Sebastian Flyte wealthy and spoiled son of Lord and Lady Marchmain
During a summer recess Ryder and Sebastian visit the latter's ancestral home Brideshead. The Marchmains are Roman Catholics who have had the faith instilled deeply into their psyches by the formidable Lady Marchmain.
Charles is drawn closer to the Marchmains as time passes. In addition to Sebastian he meets and eventually has an adulterous relationship with Juia. Brideshead the oldest son is a snob and ninnyhead who collects matchbox boxes and weds a fat, fortyish and fatuous widow. The youngest child is Celia who enters a convent later emerging to do nursing work.
The glorious springtime of hope for the family comes a cropper. Sebastian drops out of school, becomes an alcoholic and lives out his life in a monastery in Tunisia. Julia weds the obtuse and greedy Rex Mottram but ditches him for Charles. After her mother dies her Catholic teaching keeps her from marrying Charles. Ryder is an agnostic who cannot persuade Julia to leave God for him. Ryder is a sad sack of a man despite his fame in the art world. He and all of the characters are lonely seekers for love which they find elusive.
Charles becomes a captain in the British army in World War II. It is in this capacity that he and his squad camp out at the deserted Brideshead estate. Memories flood his nostalgic soul for a lost dawn when life was just beginning and the drab life of wartime England was not even imaginable. At age 39 the divorced Charles pines for the love of Julia dreaming of a happiness which will never be fulfilled.
Waugh is adept at using symbolism. Sebastian was an early Christian martyr slain with arrows. Sebastian the Marchmain son is also slain by the slings and arrows in flight which destoy his fragile pesona. Sebastian clutching his teddybear Aloysius is also a fragile toy who cannot escape the Roman Catholicism faith. Sebastian is alwas in flight but never finds a perch in this world. Charles Ryder rides with the Roman Catholic aristocracy but never feels he is really a part of that close knitted group. Ryder becomes a famous artist but is unfaithful to his dull and amorous wife. Lady Marchmain marches forth carrying high the banner of Catholic orthodoxy. The death scene of the old roue Lord Marchmain finds him returning to the faith in a touching death scene. Waugh is a Christian writer in our secular age.
None of the characters are lovable and all are deeply flawed. They do live and breathe and become human for us as we are enveloped by the rich prose of Mr. Waugh.
Brideshead Revisited has had a big revival due to the new movie and the reissue of the series on DVD which was broadcast by the BBC years ago. The book is very British, slow moving and more character centered than plot driven. It is a novel which will make you think on everything from snobbery to social class to faith. No wonder it is a modern classic.

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Brideshead Revisited

Classic English Historical Fiction. A glimpse into the eccentricities of the former English aristocratic lives. See the PBS mini series too, but the movie currently out doesn't do the book justice like the mini-series.

An Exquisite Novel

Brideshead Revisited in one of those masterpieces that your find you love more each time you re-read it. It's funny, sad, serious and poignant. It shows the power and the weakness of religion. Waugh's characters are vivid and his language and imagery is masterful.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Evelyn Waugh's best-loved novel and the basis for the PBS television production, Brideshead Revisited, the epic story of a great Catholic family in a doomed aristocratic age.

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