Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh
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Book Reviews of Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Book Review: Brideshead Revisited
Summary: 5 Stars
A great American classic well worth re-reading. Rich language, complex story line that stimulates good discussion.Book Review: 4 and 1/2 Stars -- Excellent, Could Have Been Great
Summary: 4 Stars
Evelyn Waugh made his name with acidly satirical novels focusing largely on the British upper classes' early twentieth century decline. Brideshead Revisited, ironically probably his most famous work, has similar themes but differs substantially in not being primarily satirical. There is some trademark Waugh wit to be sure, especially for those on the lookout, but this is more conventionally serious and ambitious. Not easy to classify, it is part comedy of manners, part historical fiction, and part romance; there are also quite a few comic and didactic elements and some symbolism. All this strongly suggests that Waugh was going for a masterpiece, and many fans and critics have called it such. It is certainly a commendable novel that deserves the high reputation it still has and is exemplary for characterization, a well-told story, and generally strong writing. The issue of whether it is Waugh's best book is essentially subjective, but it is certainly his broadest and probably his best written in conventional terms. However, it is brought down somewhat by a weak ending that makes the execution less stellar than Waugh's satirical masterworks and also harms his didactic purpose. This does not stop it from being an excellent novel but does keep it from true greatness.
Unlike most Waugh works, Brideshead functions on several levels. Charles Ryder, its first-person narrator, is still young but past his formative experiences; now a World War II British Army Captain, he looks back on the events that brought him to where he is and made him the man he is. Chronologically, there is a definite progression - if not necessarily progress - from relatively carefree, naïve youth to hard-won, belated adult wisdom. The novel can thus be legitimately seen as a bildungsroman - one that, moreover, many British men surely related to, as Ryder had many of his generation's characteristic experiences. This aspect is not strong enough to make Brideshead one of the great bildungsromans, but it is an important part of the book's worth and lasting value.
More important is the Flyte family that is the focus for most of Ryder's important experiences as well as the titular homestead that is metonymically linked to them. Like the Last family in A Handful of Dust, Waugh's most enduring other work, they are a traditional upper-class British family struggling to keep up with modern society and maintain ancestral dignity. It is a tough battle, and history has shown that there were almost no survivors. Ryder comes from a class that is distinctly beneath them but close enough for him to become active in their affairs, and he sees their tragic disintegration as both observer and participant. They stand in for the many families like them, and there is much pathos in their story, which also brings out other emotions. This is all the more so in that, in contrast to Waugh's usual way, he does not poke fun at them. Their fall is portrayed in an unadorned manner, letting us draw our own conclusions about its social and historical meaning.
As this suggests, Brideshead is a very moving and engrossing novel; it might not quite bring tears but draws us in and runs us through an emotional gamut. This is all the more notable in that, as in much of Waugh, no major character is likable. Only Cordelia, the youngest Flyte, and the family's Nanny Hawkins are even remotely so. The rest are vain, selfish, self-pitying, melodramatic, and more - yet, though they are far from conventionally sympathetic, we feel with, if not quite for, them. This is a triumph of Waugh's art, a trick only the best writers can pull off. The Flytes have a tragic flaw - the inherited pride the refuse to abandon -, and it proves to be their destruction in various ways. Objectively speaking, it is easy to say this is deserved, but it would take a hard heart not to have some feeling. There is a sense that they are doomed - if not necessarily victims of venomous fate, at least to a large extent casualties of time and place. Their story is fascinating and emotional enough to make the book worth reading.
However, there is quite a bit more to the novel. A realist triumph, it is a vivid portrait of a distinct era; we get a good idea of how various British groups lived and thought. There is much social observation, especially in regard to class, religion, and art. Brideshead is particularly valuable as a realistic document of pre-WWII British college life; the most surprising thing may be how little has changed. We also get an interesting glimpse of an era when Catholicism was still a great social stigma in England even among the gentry - a topic close to Waugh. Class relations are also variously explored in Ryder's interactions with the Flytes. Ryder's role as painter meanwhile interestingly dramatizes the artist's role in the era and may be meant as far-reaching symbolism again arguably touching the author. Finally, though only briefly, the novel vividly shows WWII's profound effect on all aspects of British life. All of this is engrossing and entertaining; much is moving, some is comic, and quite a bit is thought-provoking.
Brideshead also benefits from one of modern literature's most memorable and moving, if unconventional, depictions of love. Ryder and Julia Flyte are not the most likable characters to ever fall in love but are among the most believably and vividly drawn; much of what they experience will be widely and movingly familiar. As one would expect with Waugh, their relationship is no fairy tale; Brideshead does a superb job of conveying love's constant ups and downs with verisimilitude and emotion.
Ryder's relationship with Julia's brother Sebastian is nearly as interesting in this regard and far more so otherwise. It is a startling example of just how recently intense male friendships could be carried on openly in Western society without homosexuality rumors. The move away from this is of course far more pronounced in America than in Europe, and the novel will certainly be far more of an eye-opener for Americans in this way. To what extent Waugh meant the relationship as homosexual, if at all, is of course debatable, and the seemingly ever-growing Queer Theory movement has few texts more open to explication, but there is much of sociological interest here for all.
The novel could have been truly great, an undeniable masterpiece, if it only had an effective conclusion, but it unfortunately does not. The dubious tradition of having hedonistic and otherwise conventionally immoral characters undergo perfunctory religious conversion at a literary work's end goes back at least to Apuleius' [check]The Golden Ass, and this is unfortunately another entry. Waugh stated that the main theme is God's grace, and those paying any attention can see that it is, though there is no hint until the last few pages. The Flytes' troubled relationship with Catholicism is a theme throughout, and their trauma is the sort of thing that typically drives even the most guarded into desperation and thus religion, but the relative ease with which various members embrace it is simply absurd. The patriarch's deathbed conversion is particularly overwrought; however guilty his conscience, it is highly implausible. Far more significantly, Waugh fails to portray is convincingly. Ryder's anti-religious comments and actions throughout the scene have center stage, and any moderately engaged reader would think sympathy and strength are with him, yet Waugh would have us believe he is on the losing end. One critic aptly remarked that this episode would be one of Waugh's most brilliantly and subtly satirical if it were not meant so seriously - but unfortunately it is. The mercurial Julia's sudden conversion is far more plausible, especially as Waugh takes care to carefully foreshadow, but he should not be offended if many readers cynically question her sincerity and wonder how long her resolution will last. Most ridiculous of all is the conversion of Ryder. A staunch religion opponent throughout the novel lacking even the slightest sign of giving in, his change and newfound optimism, however uneasy, are simply unbelievable. He has had some difficult experiences but nothing to bring such a change. The sudden switch is almost self-parodical, an embarrassing artistic flaw leaving a bad taste in our proverbial mouths.
I would dismiss all this as a cheap narrative trick in a lesser writer, but we must give Waugh the doubt's benefit. It is most likely a simple case of didacticism overcoming art; Waugh has a point to make about how God's mercy operates in seemingly illogical but ultimately beneficial ways but pushes far too hard. This would seem obvious even if we knew nothing about him, but there may be much biographical insight. Waugh converted to Catholicism not long before writing Brideshead and had a somewhat uneasy relationship with it for the rest of his life; most who have looked into it believe he was sincere even if hardly a model Christian. His desire to portray this in his work is very understandable, perhaps even inevitable, but many critics think that, like nearly all authors in similar situations, he let beliefs reduce artistry. Balancing them is extremely difficult and certainly not limited to religion; that Waugh could not is unfortunate but hardly surprising. This was the first real instance, but it is generally thought to infect his later writings to varying degrees. However, the ending thankfully does not ruin what is otherwise an excellent work, even if it does frustratingly hold off greatness.
A few minor, additional warnings may be needed. Waugh is in my view one of modern fiction's great stylists, his conciseness, straight-forwardness, relative lack of allusion, and general avoidance of Modernist techniques making him stand out in an era when literature became ever less accessible. He may lean toward overly simple for some, but he has the great virtue of clearness that I value highly and that is so sorely lacking in much post-nineteenth century literature. That said, what was concise and clear sixty-plus years ago is not exactly so now. Waugh is formal and, in contrast to much subsequent fiction, especially the popular kind, somewhat stiff. He was not really pretentious but can easily come off as such to those not prepared to take him on his own terms. He was also uber-British, and Brideshead is particularly so; the country's culture and history infuse every aspect of the novel. This is of course not a bad thing, but those unfamiliar with British culture and literature - or who are averse to it - may be somewhat averse to the novel. My advice to them and all others not immediately taken with the novel is to stick with it. The ending is certainly a letdown, but Brideshead as a whole is one of the best post-nineteenth century English novels and should be read by anyone even remotely interested in literature of its various types.
Book Review: Family Collapse
Summary: 4 Stars
Charles Ryder, an English soldier, arrives in the middle of the night at the new home of his troops. They are to be stationed at an old country estate. When Charles awakens the next morning, he is surprised to find that he recognizes the place--it is Brideshead, a place with which he was very familiar during his college days. His best friend's family lived there, and Charles descends into memories of the friendship and the collapse of his friend's family.
Sebastian Flyte is unlike anyone Charles has known. He is glamorous and cultured, moody and outrageous. He meets Charles accidentally in their first year at Oxford, and the two become nearly inseparable. Charles is dazzled by his friend and, despite Sebastian's irritation, he ends up becoming close to the rest of the family, too. Sebastian's father is living abroad in scandal with his mistress. Sebastian's mother is at home, clinging to her Roman Catholic faith and worrying about her children. Sebastian's older brother is proper and largely disapproving of Sebastian, but his two sisters love him a great deal.
Every member of the family is affected by their Catholic upbringing, and they are fascinated by Charles, who is an atheist.
As Sebastian begins to feel smothered by his family, he starts drinking heavily. The more he drinks, the more his family tries to keep him under control, to pull him back to the family fold, and this ends up pushing him even more quickly into alcoholism.
In the second part of the book, Charles examines his relationship with Sebastian's sister, Julia, and the two of them observe as the family completely disintegrates.
I really liked the intricate examination of the family, and the ways they interacted with each other, and also the ways that they presented themselves in society. I liked Charles and Sebastian's relationship in the first part of the book, and the ways they balanced each other. I also really liked Charles' father and the quiet war they fought when Charles came home from college penniless for his vacation.
In the second part of the book, it was much more difficult for me to relate to or to like Charles very much. He'd descended into someone so shallow, who was only interested in his own pleasures and ambitions, and who abandoned his family for little reason. Julia, also, became annoying, especially toward the end when she was rediscovering her faith. The characters, so bright and lively at the beginning of the story, became duller toward the end.
Book Review: Epic tale which examines the ties of family and religion
Summary: 4 Stars
Often considered Waugh's 'magnum opus,' this novel of epic proportions follows the conflicted Charles Ryder through his involvement with the enchanting Flyte family. After befriending Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, Charles is gradually introduced to his sisters, Julia and Cordelia; his stolid brother, Brideshead; his estranged father, Lord Marchmain; his pious mother, Lady Marchmain; and, most importantly, Brideshead, their grand estate. Over the course of the story, Charles faces varying degrees of propinquity to each member of the family as he becomes a member of the family himself. Through these relationships, he is forced to make choices concerning love, his future, and religion.
Almost a character within itself, the topic of religion is constant throughout the novel. The Flyte family's Catholicism, we come to find, is of differing importance to each family member. Charles, however, never quite comes to terms with it, resulting in an inveterate rift between the family and him.
I only assign four stars to the novel due to its prolonged nature, even at points of the story that have no consequence to Charles' self-discovery, most particularly the scene in which Charles and Sebastian are thrown in jail.
Book Review: left me pondering
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a very different reading experience and still making me ponder about it. Very complex book for sure, characters and events are described without much explaining and yet they speak clearly of the incongruous, ambiguous and often absurd lives of the British elite/wealthy family in between the wars. Also there is serious lamentation over the fragility of beauty and youth. "He was magically beautiful, with that epicene quality which is extreme youth sings aloud for love and withers at the first cold wind." Writing is very sharp, and its humor painfully dark and analytical, particularly about the weight and irony of religious practice that seems to be right in the center of this story.