Author: Evelyn Waugh
Originally Published: 1945
Read in: February - April 2009
Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited was my first read for the 2009 Classics Challenge. The story is narrated by a man named Charles Ryder. Charles meets a fellow student named Sebastian Flyte while studying at Oxford. Sebastian is a fun-loving and needy guy who brings a teddy bear named Aloysius with him everywhere. The boys form a very close relationship to the point that Sebasitan rescues Charles from his abysmal, yet comical life with his widower father during the summer holiday. Charles is brought to the family's home called Brideshead, after a first brief visit at Christmas earlier in the year. There he gets to know Sebastian's very interesting family, whom are all very different personalities and varying degrees of Catholic, something that Charles has never previously considered.
As Charles and Sebastian's schooling progresses, Sebastian begins to find more comfort in alcohol than Charles, to the point where he flees his normal life and travels to Morocco, and then a Tunisian monastery, where he becomes a charity case. Even Charles can not bring him back, so Charles distances himself from the family.
The above only encompasses the first section of the book, so there are more serious encounters in store for Charles and the Marchmain family. What I like most about this book is the range of emotions. There is comedy, drama, love, very vague homosexual undertones, religion, loss, and much more all wrapped up in British formality. Even though the book took me quite a while to complete, I enjoyed every minute of it. I plan to read more Waugh, only in the distant future, as I have quite the pile of British literature at my fingertips at the moment.
4 comments:
Nerd Casserole voice: "it is illuminating to contrast Brideshead Revisited and Howards End because both novels employ Place as a significant player in the plot of the novel and development of characters. However, Brideshead is more theological and Howards End is more about class."
SNORTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Insightful (pronounced in-schite-ful)
Snort!
I've only ever read the abridged version, but I really want to read the whole thing one day. I've just got to get my hands on a copy.
Have you seen the movie? I'd be interested to know what you think.
I haven't seen the movie, though it is on my Netflix queue. I will let you know when I do!
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