Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

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bettercallpaul

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The classic Catholic novel/TV series.
Would you recommend it as a way of deepening ones’ faith?
 
Certainly! Evelyn Waugh was a Catholic and Brideshead Revisted is a novel about Catholics.

Art, Literature and Music, etc. and anything beautiful that reflects and extols the beauty of God and His Creation are Catholic.
 
I find I need a lot of patience to just watch the TV series. That old stuffy conservative and pompous Englishness can be rather tiring. Still the rewards are there.
 
I’ve only read the book and have never seen the TV series. The book was fast reading (for me).
 
Nope. Its portrayal of Catholicism is weird, old-fashioned and frankly, depressing. The only joy I got out of watching it was when the two young guys were cavorting around Oxford with Aloysius the bear. I loved Oxford, and of course I love bears.

Edited to add, if we must refer back to that era, I’m more of a Graham Greene fan.
 
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Likely one of the best Catholic novels in print. The PBS Series was good, not excellent, but good.

The more recent movie was trash.
 
TigerLily-1 said:
Art, Literature and Music, etc. and anything beautiful that reflects and extols the beauty of God and His Creation are Catholic.
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Really? I thought the best of art, literature, and music are Anglican. LOL.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Nope. Its portrayal of Catholicism is weird, old-fashioned and frankly, depressing. The only joy I got out of watching it was when the two young guys were cavorting around Oxford with Aloysius the bear. I loved Oxford, and of course I love bear
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Did you like the scene where Rex Mottram speaks to the priest about converting before marrying Julia?

“I’ve had a long talk with a Catholic – a very pious, well-educated one, and I’ve learned a thing or two. For instance, that you have to sleep with your feet pointing East because that’s the direction of heaven, and if you die in the night you can walk there. Now I’ll sleep with my feet pointing any way that suits Julia, but d’you expect a grown man to believe about walking to heaven? And what about the Pope who made one of his horses a cardinal? And what about the box you keep in the church porch, and if you put in a pound note with someone’s name on it, they get sent to hell. I don’t say there mayn’t be a good reason for all this,’ he said, ‘but you ought to tell me about it and not let me find out for myself.’”
 
I’d recommend it. It is a very rewarding novel. As is “Handful of Dust” by the same, Evelyn Waugh.
 
I don’t doubt that’s what Catholicism seems like to non-Catholics, but that scene illustrates quite well that Mottram is a total boor.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I don’t doubt that’s what Catholicism seems like to non-Catholics, but that scene illustrates quite well that Mottram is a total boor.
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And also not that bright. Isn’t it Cordelia Flyte who’s been telling him all that stuff? She doesn’t like Rex all that much, so she’s been amusing herself.

There’s a whiff of class prejudice (on the part of Waugh) there – Rex is a man who’s made a lot of money in business, while the Flytes have inherited theirs, for many generations. Old money vs. new, the landed aristocracy vs. “trade.”

Still, Brideshead Revisited isn’t just a great Catholic novel, it’s one of the great English-language novels of all time. In my humble opinion.
 
Plus, Rex is from Canada, so on top of being a nouveau riche businessman, he’s provincial.

i accept that Brideshead Revisited is a classic of English literature, but when it comes to “Great Catholic Novels”, something like “The Cardinal” rings truer for me, despite the overdramatic abortion plotline.
 
Agreed! It’s beautifully written and bears re-reading very well. It’s portrayal of the actions of grace amongst different family members is thoughtful. You might explore a father Brown mystery or two to familiarize yourself with the story/source of the “twitch upon the thread” quote. The BBC 10+ part series is very faithful to the book. The shorter movie was a waste of time.
 
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