No matter how devout we are, all humans adhere to a creed. For nonbelievers, it is often a set of ethical principles that guide their actions in life. But while believers aspire to a similar, living morality, they must also grapple with questions concerning the life to come. Upon the death of the flesh, Where will their immortal souls reside? And what must be done in life to smooth that soulful journey? How best do they get right with god? While agnostics and atheists are spared the contemplation of these difficult and ultimately unanswerable problems, they remain, at least for theologians, points of contention that distinguish the sects within humanity's major religions. Consequently, they can be, for followers of those sects, literally matters of life and death. Mr. Waugh treats it thus in Brideshead Revisited.
In the tumultuous wake of the First World War which consumed much of western Europe in its fiery conflagration, Charles Ryder, a young Englishman born into comfortable if common circumstances, attends Oxford college where he befriends Sebastian, the prodigal son of the aristocratic Marchmain family. Eccentric and dysfunctional, the Marchmain clan, Charles learns through his association with the charming if drunken Sebastian, is plagued by a decades-old schism begun when Lord Marchmain, after converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in order to marry Sebastian's mother (Teresa), abandoned both his religion and his bride to settle, with his French mistress, into a comfortable, epicurean life in Venice. This abdication left Lady Teresa Marchmain free to impose the strictures of her Catholicism upon her four children, each of whom react differently to this profound development.
While her eldest son, Brideshead, and her youngest daughter, Cordelia, enthusiastically embrace Roman Catholicism, her eldest daughter, Julia, and her youngest son, Sebastian, suffer under its yoke. The former rejects a clear path to happiness in order to adhere to the faith's principles while the latter descends into alcoholism in order to numb the pain of failing to meet the standards it imposes upon him. Collectively, the five Marchmains present the agnostic Charles, an aspiring artist, with an opportunity to explore his own faith, an opportunity he seizes with a mixture of fascination and contempt. This is his first-hand account of his 20-year association with the family and the profound extent to which it has shaped his relationships, his career, his worldview and his religiosity.
Widely considered to be a classic of 20th century English literature, Brideshead Revisited is, in the main, Mr. Waugh's attempt to make the argument for Roman Catholicism to a skeptical, Anglicanized England. It is a shame, then, that this is perhaps the novel's weakest element. For in attempting to imbue the strictures of Roman Catholicism with grace and dignity, the author has managed, through Julia's suffering, through Sebastian's misery, and through Lord Marchmain's illness, to convey the abject pettiness that consumes dogmatists intent upon convincing those who do not think as they do that theirs is the only rightful road, that to travel any other path is to invite the fearsome disappointment of the almighty.
Perhaps there's a worthwhile argument to be made here; there is, after all, much to be said for encouraging the wayward to live a good and righteous life. But the author, instead, elects to argue that the blessings of the divine can only be felt through strict adherence to the proper interpretation of the Christian god's, at best, ambiguous will. In this, Mr. Waugh espouses the same nonsense advanced by dogmatists the world over. If there is a god looking over us, and if he is as wise and kind and caring as some would have us believe, then the last thing such a being would care about is a slavish adherence to the fine points of religious rituals, or the accurate interpretation of scripture. An omnipresent being would judge us on the contents of our souls, on the depth of our humanity, and on the quality of our actions. He would measure us by what matters, not by honoring every possible point of canonical law.
As much as Brideshead Revisited labors under an outdated and misguided argument for religion, it is, in every other respect, an exquisite novel. Mr. Waugh imbues the friendship between Charles and Sebastian with emotion and subtlety, so much so that he leaves the reader grasping at the extent of the relationship shared between the two men. More over, the author's choice to make Charles the unreliable narrator is paid off wonderfully well, as the reader is treated to the innerworkings of a cynical mind occasionally brought low by fits of uncontrollable passion. Finally, the extent to which Mr. Waugh deploys the entanglements of religion to create tragedy and chaos in the Marchmain family leaves the canvas of the piece splattered with tempestuous emotion that does the work justice and brings each of its eccentric characters to life. Few English works can claim better prose.
This is a masterwork that is, unfortunately, marred by the biases and theological preoccupations of its author. Nonetheless, it is a worthy read. For it is a window into a time in English history now gone, the interwar period that brought low the manorborn and raised up the common man. And in this, it is as much a piece of delightful nostalgia as it is a work of literary excellence. (4/5 Stars)
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