Brideshead revisited door Evelyn Waugh

brideshead revisited by evelyn waugh
triangle classics, 1993
first published: 1944
Motto: I am not I; thou art not he or she; they are not they. E.W.

I chose this book, because it’s considered as an important classic of the English novels, and I already had the book at home, so I didn’t have to go to the library, and that was quite easy. I expected the book to be very old-fashioned and I though the main theme would be homosexuality. This turned out to be untrue, even though the book is about a man who’s in a romantics relationship with another man, homosexuality doesn’t appear in the book at all. The relationship of the two men is described as a normal friendship and not as a romantic one at all. The book didn’t turn out to be very old-fashioned either, the style sometimes even surprised me in its modernity.

When World War 2 captain Charles Ryder revisits a place he spent a big part of his adolescence in, he starts to remember everything that happened in those days. He goes back to his years at Oxford University, where he met Sebastian Flyte. They became the closest friends, and did everything together. Most of their time, they spent drinking, partying, dining and discussing “important” matters with friends. The first year at Oxford quickly passes by, and, apart from the educational speeches Charles’ cousin finds necessary to fill his spare hours with, everything is wonderful. That is, until Sebastian sends Charles a note during summer holidays, urging him to come see him at his parents’ house. Charles, thinking something bad happened, goes immediately, and finds Sebastian totally healthy, but very bored. They do lots of fun stuff together (they even go to Venice), but when Charles starts to get close to Sebastian’s family, Sebastian starts to act weird. The summer comes to an end, and they go to Oxford again, but noting is the same. Sebastian starts to drink a lot, and when he and Charles go to Brideshead (where Sebastian’s mom lives), his drinking has come to a point where it gets out of hand. He moves to Africa, and they lose contact. When the story continues, we see Charles having an affair with Sebastian’s sister, Julia. They both are unhappily married, and decide to leave their spouses for each other. After Julia’s father dies, they found out he wanted to be catholic after all, and Charles takes on religion too. He and Julia decide not to get married because the church forbade getting remarried. The Flyte family and Charles slowly lose contact, and, after so many years, Captain Charles Ryder is forced to recall the happiest and saddest moments of his live that happened there, when he accidentally visits Brideshead again.

Charles Ryder
In the part where Charles looks back on his youth, he’s about 20 years old and a wealthy student at Oxford University. In the beginning he’s shy, lonely and serious. After his first meeting with Sebastian Flyte, he opens up a bit. He does fun stuff with Sebastian, and stops being so serious. His studies rather suffer under this life of joy, but he always seems to manage. This means he’s smart and interested in his study. He doesn’t care much about his health; he drinks lots of alcohol and eats way too much. Charles loves art, and is a good painter. He isn’t into sports, and isn’t athletic too. During his Oxford years, he feels like he depends on Sebastian, while he’s his only friend. Charles is good at charming older people, and is an interesting discussion partner. He’s agnostic and has the wildest discussions about religion with the Flyte’s, in which he has good arguments. As many students, Charles doesn’t really talk about his values. The only one I found is based on his actions. Charles’ a very loyal friend, and does everything for Sebastian. The book doesn’t really describe the way Charles looks. The picture I developed in my head was a not very attractive one: he’s probably skinny, pale, freckled and funnily dressed. But this is just the picture you get from reading the book.
Charles changes a lot in the book. He goes from serious, lonely schoolboy to ruthless good at nothing, to serious man. All of these transformations have got to do with Sebastian. He’s totally in control of Charles’ live. Charles really admires Sebastian, and depends on him. They love each other very much, but Sebastian often uses Charles for several goals. Sebastian truly loves Charles, but is afraid that Charles gets in too deep with his family (exactly what happens) the love of these two men is complicated, and hard to explain.
Most readers see it as a homosexual relationship, but Waugh never says anything about a sexual, or even love connection. I don’t know what to think, I’ll just stick to the fact that they loved each other. After Charles’ contact with the Flyte’s got more intimate, their relationship changed. Sebastian acted distant and vague, and eventually, they lose contact, because of Sebastian’s living in Africa.

Sebastian flyte
Sebastian is an eccentric, extravagant, charming young man. He probably looked very good, had blue eyes and long, dark hair, and came from a wealthy family. He was about Charles’ age when they met, and had interests in poetry, art and music. He loved to go dancing and drinking with Charles, and they were always ready to do something silly. Sebastian is a Catholic, and goes to church, but he just does it because it looks good and because his mother expects him to. He doesn’t care about rules and values, he does care about manners. After a year, the bubbly and charming boy changed into a moody and grumpy drunk. How did this happen? The only thing he had for himself – Charles – was taken from him by his family. They bedazzled him with their charm and wealth, and now he was one of them. Everything changed the day Charles met his family for the first time. Sebastian actually hates his family, but never says it. He starts to drink to drown his sorrow and to be on a constant buzz. Eventually he moves to Africa.

The first part of the book is about the old Charles who revisits Brideshead during the Second World War (about 4 days), and in the next two parts, it’s about him remembering the things that happened there. The second part is about the way Sebastian and Charles live and what they experience. This takes about 3 years. The third part is about Charles and his affair with Julia this takes approximately 2 years, and the fourth part is the old Charles again. Conclusion: it’s not chronological, but the separate parts are.

The main character, Charles, is the narrator too. He tells everything from his point of view, so it’s not completely opinion-free.

The story takes place in England in the twenties. A lot of the action happens in Oxford and London, and the rest at Brideshead. All the characters are from a high social group; there all wealthy and powerful. I think this is the only kind of people the boys met, because only rich people were able to go to Oxford, and their parents only knew persons from the same social group.

The title is quite simple: Charles Ryder Revisits the place called Brideshead.

EXTRA ASSINGMENT

I chose assignment C.3: think of a motto that sums up your main character.

Name main character:
Charles Ryder

Motto:
“Ought we to be drunk every night?”
“Yes, I think so”
“I think so too.”

Even though this isn’t even a real motto, this really represents the main character in his wild days at Oxford.

This motto sums up the main character because:
Charles lived a life without worries at Oxford. He didn’t listen to what others said, and only did what he found pleasing. This is why he and Sebastian spent their days drinking, eating and doing nothing.

A passage from the text which illustrates this is:

"I could tell him, too, that to know and love one other human being
is the root of all wisdom. But I felt no need for these sophistries as I sat before my cousin,
saw him, freed from his inconclusive struggle with Pindar, in his grey dark suit, his white tie,
his scholar's gown; heard his grave tones and, all the time, savoured the gilly flowers
in full bloom under my window. I had my secret and sure defence, like a talisman worn in the bosom,
felt for in the moment of danger, found and firmly grasped. So I told him what was in fact not the truth,
that I usually had a glass of champagne about that time, and asked him to join me."

I thought it would be nice to do two extra assignments.

A.1

Evelyn Arthur St.John Waugh was, what you might have not suspected, a man. He lived from the 28th of October 1903 until the 10th of April 1966. He studied at Oxford University, and after this, he was a teacher for a privatschool in Wales. After he got sick of this job he became a journalist but when his first novel “decline and fall” was published, he quitted here too. During his time in Oxford, he had a romantic relationship with three men. This was probably the reason why he wrote this book. Having such a relationship in your adolescence is normal, considered Waugh. Boys did it to improve their sexuality and experience. In 1929 Waugh married a woman called Evelyn Gardner. This marriage didn’t work out, and he eventually married Laura Herbert. They stayed together for the rest of their lives and got six children.
Criticism lots of people have on Waugh’s books is that the catholic moral comes up too much. This is probably because Waugh was a devout Catholic since he converted in 1930. In “brideshead revisited” too, Catholicism plays a big role. It’s the cause of lots of heated discussions and catholic moral comes up a lot.
Waugh died of a heart-attack at the age of 62.

My opinion

Brideshead revisited isn’t for everybody. It wouldn’t surprise me if people would fall asleep after 10 pages, but personally, I liked it. The style was easy to read en nice, the story captivating and the characters well described. Even though nothing really happens, the story gives you a great view of how life was in those days. The character of Sebastian was so charming, even though he hardly ever spoke or did something nice, and I think that this is an example of how well-written the book is. I would recommend it to people who are into rather artsy books, and who don’t get annoyed when nothing happens in a book. It’s also interesting if you want to learn about that time, and if you are interested in homosexuality in earlier times. I am not a big fan of reading lots of books by the same writer, so I probably won’t read more books by Waugh. This is also the only novel of his that got the must-read status, so I’ve read enough by Waugh.