Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Brideshead Revisited, 1945 first UK edition.
Author	Evelyn Waugh
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Publisher	Chapman and Hall
Publication date	1945
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
ISBN	NA

Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by which God continually calls souls to Himself". This is achieved by an examination of the Catholic aristocratic Marchmain family, as seen by the narrator, Charles Ryder.

In 2005, Brideshead Revisited was chosen by Time magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.^[1] In various letters, Waugh himself refers to the novel a number of times as his magnum opus; however, in 1950 he wrote to Graham Greene saying "I re-read Brideshead Revisited and was appalled." In Waugh's preface to the 1959 revised edition of Brideshead the author explains the circumstances in which the novel was written, in the six months between December 1943 and June 1944 following a minor parachute accident. He is mildly disparaging of the novel, saying; "It was a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster — the period of soya beans and Basic English — and in consequence the book is infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language which now, with a full stomach, I find distasteful."

Brideshead Revisited was brought to the screen in 1981 in the ITV drama serialisation, produced by Granada Television. A film adaptation of the book was released in July 2008.

Plot

1923: After an unpleasant chance first encounter, protagonist and narrator Charles Ryder, a student at Hertford College, Oxford University, and Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of the aristocratic Marchmain family and himself an undergraduate at Christ Church, become friends. Sebastian takes Charles to his family's palatial home, Brideshead, where Charles eventually meets the rest of Sebastian's family, including his sister Julia.

During the holiday Charles returns home, where he lives with his widower father. Scenes between Charles and his father Ned (Edward) provide some of the best-known comic scenes in the novel. He is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian incurs a minor injury. Sebastian and Charles spend the remainder of the summer together. They form a romantic friendship, possibly become lovers. Waugh writes that Charles had been "in search of love in those days" when he first met Sebastian, finding "that low door in the wall... which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden", a metaphor that informs the work on a number of levels.

Sebastian's family is Catholic, which influences the Marchmains' lives as well as the content of their conversations, all of which surprises Charles, who had always assumed Christianity to be "without substance or merit". Lord Marchmain had converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism in order to marry his wife but soon abandoned both his marriage and religion to Italy. Left alone, Lady Marchmain focused even more on her faith, which is also very much espoused by her eldest son, Lord Brideshead ("Bridey"), and her youngest daughter, Cordelia. Sebastian, a troubled young man, descends into alcoholism, drifting away from the family over a two-year period. He flees to Morocco, where his drinking ruins his health. He eventually finds some solace as an under-porter/charity case at a Tunisian monastery.

Sebastian's drifting leads to Charles's own estrangement from the Marchmains, yet he is fated to re-encounter the family as the years pass. He marries and fathers two children, but his wife is unfaithful and he eventually forms a relationship with Sebastian's younger sister Julia, who by that time has married but separated from the wealthy but coarse Canadian entrepreneur, Rex Mottram.

Charles and Julia plan to divorce their respective spouses so that they can marry. On the eve of World War II, the aging Lord Marchmain returns to Brideshead to die in his ancestral home. As he names Julia (and not his eldest son Brideshead) heiress to the estate, this would give Charles marital ownership of the house. Lord Marchmain's deathbed return to the faith changes the situation: Julia decides that she cannot enter a sinful marriage with Charles, who too has been moved by Lord Marchmain's reception of the sacraments.

The plot concludes in the early spring of 1943 (or possibly 1944 – the date is disputed).^[2] Charles is "homeless, childless, middle-aged and loveless".^[3] He has become an army officer after establishing a career as an architectural artist, and finds himself unexpectedly billeted at Brideshead. Charles finds the house damaged by the military occupation but the private chapel, closed after Lady Marchmain's death in 1926, has been reopened for the soldiers' worship. It occurs to him that the chapel (and, by extension, the Church's) builders' efforts were not in vain, even when their purposes may appear, for a time, to be frustrated.^[4]

Motifs

Catholicism

Taking into account the background of the author, the most significant theme of the book is Catholicism. Evelyn Waugh was a convert to Catholicism and the book is considered to be an attempt to express the Catholic faith in secular literary form. Waugh wrote to his literary agent A. D. Peters, "I hope the last conversation with Cordelia gives the theological clue. The whole thing is steeped in theology, but I begin to agree that the theologians won't recognise it." Considering his readership, who were generally urbane and cosmopolitan, a sentimental or a didactic approach would not have worked. Sentimentalism would have cheapened the story while didacticism would have repelled a secular audience through excessive sermonising.

Instead, the book brings the reader, through the narration of the agnostic Charles Ryder, in contact with the severely flawed but deeply Catholic Marchmain family. While many novels of the same era portray Catholics as the flatfooted people put on the spot by brilliant non-believers, Brideshead Revisited turns the table on the agnostic Charles Ryder (and presumably the reader as well) and scrutinises his secular values, which are tacitly portrayed as falling short of the deeper humanity and spirituality of the Catholic faith.

The Catholic themes of divine grace and reconciliation are pervasive in the book. Most of the major characters undergo a conversion in some way or another. Lord Marchmain, a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism, who lived as an adulterer, is reconciled with the Church on his deathbed. Julia, who is involved in an extramarital affair with Charles, comes to feel this relationship is immoral and decides to separate from Charles in spite of her great attachment to him. Sebastian, the charming and flamboyant alcoholic, ends up in service to a monastery while struggling against his alcoholism. Even Cordelia has some sort of conversion: from being the "worst" behaved schoolgirl her headmistress has ever seen, to serving in the hospital bunks of the Spanish Civil War.

Most significant is Charles's apparent conversion, which is expressed very subtly at the end of the book, set more than 20 years after his first meeting Sebastian, Charles kneels down in front of the tabernacle of the Brideshead chapel and says a prayer, "an ancient, newly learned form of words" — implying recent instruction in the catechism. Waugh speaks of his belief in grace in a letter to Lady Mary Lygon: "I believe that everyone in his (or her) life has the moment when he is open to Divine Grace. It's there, of course, for the asking all the time, but human lives are so planned that usually there's a particular time — sometimes, like Hubert, on his deathbed — when all resistance is down and Grace can come flooding in."

Waugh uses a quote from a short story by G. K. Chesterton to illustrate the nature of Grace. Cordelia, in conversation with Charles Ryder, quotes a passage from the Father Brown detective story "The Queer Feet:" "I caught him, with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world, and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread."^[5] This quotation provides the foundation for Waugh's Catholic treatment of the interplay of free will and grace in the moment of conversion. Aside from Grace and Reconciliation, other Catholic themes in the book are the Communion of Saints, Faith and Vocation.

The same themes were criticised by Waugh's contemporaries. Henry Green, a fellow novelist, wrote to Waugh, "The end was not for me. As you can imagine my heart was in my mouth all through the deathbed scene, hoping against hope that the old man would not give way, that is, take the course he eventually did." And Edmund Wilson, who had praised Waugh as the hope of the English novel, wrote "The last scenes are extravagantly absurd, with an absurdity that would be worthy of Waugh at his best if it were not — painful to say — meant quite seriously."

Nostalgia for the age of English nobility

The Marchmain family, to some, is a symbol of a dying breed — the English nobility. One reads in the book that Brideshead has "the atmosphere of a better age," and, referring to the deaths of Lady Marchmain's brothers in the Great War, "these men must die to make a world for Hooper ... so that things might be safe for the travelling salesman, with his polygonal pince-nez, his fat, wet handshake, his grinning dentures." This is viewed by some as elitism. According to Martin Amis, the book "squarely identifies egalitarianism as its foe and proceeds to rubbish it accordingly."^[6]

Charles and Sebastian's relationship

The precise nature of Charles and Sebastian's relationship remains a topic of considerable debate; whether they are simply close friends or if Waugh hints at a physical relationship between the two.^[7] Given that much of the first half of the novel focuses on the initial encounter, blossoming friendship and eventual estrangement of these central characters, this issue continues to pique the curiosity of readers.

A frequent interpretation is that Charles and Sebastian had a passionate yet platonic relationship, an immature albeit strongly felt attachment that prefigures future heterosexual relationships. Indeed Cara, Lord Marchmain's mistress, says as much to Charles directly —that his relationship with Sebastian forms part of a process of emotional development "typical to the English and the Germans". Waugh himself said that "Charles's romantic affection for Sebastian is part due to the glitter of the new world Sebastian represents, part to the protective feeling of a strong towards a weak character, and part a foreshadowing of the love for Julia which is to be the consuming passion of his mature years."

Others draw an alternative conclusion from the line "naughtiness high on the catalogue of grave sins." Reference is made at one point to Charles impatiently anticipating Sebastian's letters in the manner of one who is love-smitten. Also, it is suggested in the book that one of the reasons why Charles is in love with Julia is because of the similarity between her and Sebastian. Indeed, when asked by Julia if he loved Sebastian, Charles replies, 'Oh yes! He was the forerunner.'

Principal characters

• Charles Ryder - The protagonist and narrator of the story was raised primarily by his father after his mother died. Charles's family background is financially comfortable but emotionally hollow. He is unsure about his desires or goals in life, and is dazzled by the charming, flamboyant and seemingly carefree young Lord Sebastian Flyte. Charles, though dissatisfied with what life seems to offer, has modest success both as a student and later as a painter; less so as an Army officer. His path repeatedly crosses those of various members of the Marchmain family, and each time they awaken something deep within him. It has been noted that Charles Ryder has an uncanny resemblance to artist Felix Kelly (1914-1994), who painted murals for aristocratic country houses.^[8] Kelly was commissioned to paint murals for Castle Howard, which was used as a location in the television series and is where Ryder is depicted painting a mural for the Garden Room.^[9]
• Edward "Ned" Ryder - Charles's father is a somewhat distant and eccentric figure, but possessed of a keen wit. He seems determined to teach Charles to stand on his own feet. When Charles is forced to spend his holidays with him because he has already spent his allowance for the term, Ned, in some of the funniest passages in the book, strives to make Charles as uncomfortable as possible, indirectly teaching him to mind his finances more carefully.
• Lord Marchmain (Alexander Flyte, Marquess of Marchmain) - As a young man, Lord Marchmain fell in love with a Roman Catholic woman and converted in order to marry her. The marriage was unhappy and, after the First World War, he refused to return to England, settling in Venice with his French mistress, Cara.
• Teresa Flyte, Marchioness of Marchmain - Abandoned by her husband, Lady Marchmain rules over her household, enforcing her Catholic morality on her children.
• Lord Brideshead ("Bridey") - The elder son of Lord and Lady Marchmain who (as the Marquess's heir) holds the courtesy title "Earl of Brideshead". He follows his mother's strict Catholic beliefs, and once aspired to the priesthood. However, he is unable to connect in an emotional way with most people, who find him cold and distant. His actual Christian name is not revealed.
• Lord Sebastian Flyte - The younger son of Lord and Lady Marchmain is haunted by a profound unhappiness brought on by the oppressiveness of his mother's religion. An otherwise charming and attractive companion, he numbs himself with alcohol. He forms a deep friendship with Charles. Over time, however, the numbness brought on by alcohol becomes his main desire. He is thought to be based on Hugh Lygon and Stephen Tennant. Also, his relationship with his teddy bear, Aloysius, was inspired by John Betjeman and his teddy bear Archibald Ormsby-Gore.
• Lady Julia Flyte - The eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Marchmain, who comes out as a debutante in the beginning of the story, eventually marrying Rex Mottram. Charles loves her for much of their lives, due in part to her resemblance to her brother Sebastian. Julia refuses at first to be controlled by the conventions of Catholicism, but turns to it later in life.
• Lady Cordelia Flyte - The youngest of the siblings is the most devout and least conflicted in her beliefs. She aspires solely to serve God.
• Anthony Blanche - A friend of Charles and Sebastian's from Oxford, and an overt homosexual. His background is unclear but there are hints that he may be of Italian or Hispanic extraction, or possibly French as Charles Ryder calls him Antoine. Of all the characters, Anthony has the keenest insight into the self-deception of the people around him. Although he is witty, amiable and always an interesting companion, he manages to make Charles uncomfortable with his stark honesty, flamboyance and flirtatiousness. It's been suggested Anthony Blanche may be based upon the infamous Anthony Blunt, one of the leading art critics of his age who was discovered to have been a Soviet spy. However, Anthony Blunt attended Cambridge University, not Oxford, and graduated from Cambridge in 1930. In fact, the character is based on Anthony Howerd and Harold Acton, both of whom were contemporaries of Waugh at Oxford and were flamboyant homosexuals. When Sebastian and Charles return to Oxford, in the Michaelmas term of 1923, they learn that Anthony Blanche has been sent down.
• Viscount "Boy" Mulcaster - An acquaintance of Charles from Oxford. Brash, bumbling and thoughtless, he personifies the privileged hauteur of the British aristocracy. He later proves an engaging and fondly doting uncle to "John-john" Ryder. As with Lord Brideshead, his Christian name is never revealed.
• Lady Celia Ryder - Charles's wife, "Boy" Mulcaster's sister, and a former schoolmate of Julia. A vivacious and socially active beauty, Charles marries her largely for convenience, which is revealed by Celia's infidelities. Charles feels freed by Celia's betrayal and decides to pursue love elsewhere, outside of their marriage.
• Rex Mottram - A Canadian of great ambition, said to be based on Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, a Canadian; and Brendan Bracken. Mottram wins a seat in the House of Commons. Through his marriage to Julia, he connects to the Marchmains as another step on the ladder to the top. He is disappointed with the results, and he and Julia agree to lead separate lives.
• "Sammy" Samgrass - A Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Lady Marchmain's "pet don". Lady Marchmain funds Samgrass's projects and flatters his academic ego, while asking him to keep Sebastian in line and save him from expulsion. Samgrass uses his connections with the aristocracy to further his personal ambitions.
• Cara - A French woman who lives with Lord Marchmain in Venice, as his mistress. She is very protective of Lord Marchmain and is forthright and insightful in her relationship with Charles.
• "Nanny" Hawkins - Beloved nanny to the four Marchmain children. She lives in retirement at Brideshead.

Minor characters

• Jasper Charles's cousin, who gives him advice about student life at Oxford, which Charles ignores.
• Kurt Sebastian's German friend. A deeply inadequate ex soldier with a permanently septic foot whom Sebastian meets in Tunisia, a man so inept that he needs Lord Sebastian to look after him.
• Mrs (Beryl) Muspratt The widow of an admiral, she meets and marries a smitten Brideshead but never becomes mistress of the great house.

Minor characters who are mentioned but never appear

• Melchior Cousin of Charles's father. In his youth he too squandered his money and talent. By referring to him, Ned is able to remind Charles constantly of his own financial imprudence.
• Aunt Phillipa Charles's aunt and Ned's sister who, when Charles's mother died, came to live with them. Inclined to interfere, Ned eventually triumphs and she leaves England:

"I got her out in the end, he said with derision and triumph of that kindly lady, and he knew that I heard in those words a challenge to myself."^[10]

Related works

A fragment about the young Charles Ryder entitled Charles Ryder's Schooldays was found after Waugh's death, and is available in collections of Waugh's short works.

Adaptations

Brideshead Revisited has been dramatised for Radio 4 in four one-hour episodes and repeated on BBC7.

References in other media

Brideshead Revisited was referenced on the television show Frasier when a fellow radio station employee Noel hurt by Frasier's remark that Star Trek is just a TV show, tells Frasier "so was Brideshead Revisited", to which Frasier replied, "You're angry, so I'm going to ignore that."

In the film Dear Wendy, the Dandies congratulate one another with what they refer to as a "Brideshead stutter."

In scene 2 of Tom Stoppard's 1993 play Arcadia, one character refers to another character who attends Oxford as "Brideshead Regurgitated." Et in Arcadia ego, the Latin phrase which is the title of the major section (Book One) of Brideshead Revisited, is also a central theme to Tom Stoppard's play. Stoppard's phrase may have been inspired by the 1980s BBC comedy series "Three of a Kind", starring Tracey Ullman, Lenny Henry and David Copperfield, which featured a recurring sketch entitled "Brideshead Regurgitated", with Henry in the role of Charles Ryder.

In the early 1980s, following the release of the television series, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (from 1983, Australian Broadcasting Corporation) produced a radio show called Brunswick Heads Revisited. Brunswick Heads is a coastal town in northern New South Wales. The series was a spoof, and made fun of the 'Englishness' of Brideshead and many amusing parallels could be drawn between the upper class characters from Brideshead and their opposite numbers from rural Australia.

In the book The Time Traveler's Wife the character Clare mentions that she is reading Brideshead Revisited for a second time.

See also

• Paula Byrne

Notes

References

• Waugh, Evelyn (1973) [1946]. Brideshead Revisited. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316926345. 
• Amis, Martin (2001). The War Against Cliché. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0786866748. 

Further reading

• Mad Lives: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead. Harper Press. 2009. ISBN 0870-429-6655

External links

• 1945 NYtimes.com, New York Times Book Review on Brideshead Revisited
• Freeserve.co.uk, A Companion to Brideshead Revisited (adapted for both book and serialisation)
• Downloadable audio about Brideshead Revisited and Evelyn Waugh from EWTN
• Guardian.co.uk, Article Regarding Waugh and Hollywood.
• May 2008 Telegraph.co.uk, Telegraph Magazine, edited extract from 'Madresfield: The Real Brideshead' by Jane Mulvagh (Doubleday)