Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited is without doubt the glorious English prose at its fullest; it envelops and transforms you with its complexity, like the embrace of a once mighty ocean now resigned to its violent decay. At the center of this violent decay are the Flytes, an aristocratic family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead; with whose dysfunction and romances, the protagonist's (i.e Charles Ryder's) fortunes are inextricably wound up right from his days at Oxford, where he meets Sebastian Flyte and his coterie of fashionable young men, thereby laying the foundations of relationship that defies easy categorization- because beyond its obvious homosexual insinuations, there is a surreal romantic male friendship at the heart of this cultural mosaic. Looming large over the litany of spiritual dysfunction among Flytes, is of course Catholic theology, which is omnipresent in a story precisely in the strange moments when we least expect it to be. Is Brideshead unabashed, unreserved nostalgia for an age of gentle nobility, its myths and social values that it sees slipping away or is it the an honest obituary for the lost prose of cultural delight? The answer, like everything else in Brideshead is complicated.

This novel is one of those I'd heard of over the years, and was aware of the various adaptations and so on but never got around to exploring it. It felt like one of those you should look into if you are interested in British literature, so I decided to tackle it. The story takes place between the two world wars and shows the degeneration of an aristocratic family, who are slowly losing their money, prestige, and so on.

Captain Charles Ryder, during WWII, gets stationed near the Marchmain house, family estate of his old friend Sebastian Flyte. The book is his memories of his time with Sebastian and the rest of his family, Lord and Lady Marchmain, and their children.

Charles meets Sebastian Flyte in college, where they get very close. However, when Sebastian first introduces Charles to his family home, he has some issues with them, avoiding introducing Charles, at least at first. The family is Catholic; Lady Marchmain in particular, insists her children to be as tied to their faith as she is. Charles himself is ordinary, middle class, with enough money for college and no strong religious ties or feelings.

Charles and Sebastian, I assume, are romantic or sexually involved, though it is never clearly said. Sebastian develops a drinking problem, and Charles is stuck between him and his family as they expect him to help get Sebastian straightened out. Charles is popular with the family, yet Lady Marchmain is disappointed that Charles is an atheist and prefers Sebastian to have more Catholic friends.

It is not expressly said, but possibly the drinking is because Sebastian can't reconcile being Catholic with homosexuality. Also, Lady M knows they are more than friendly and doesn't want Sebastian involved long-term in a relationship with another man. Interestingly, no one makes a big deal of the young men's relationships in college; the characters take these entanglements for granted and as temporary before assuming they will graduate to traditional marriage and children.

The opening half of Brideshead Revisited concerns Charles and Sebastian and moves slowly, including many scenes of drinking and traveling with rich people. I wasn't that captivated with the book at this point.

In the second half, Charles grows into a talented artist and marries a woman who helps with his career. The drama in this part of the book revolves around his relationship with Charles' sister Julia and her struggle between wanting to do as she wants with her personal life (in her case, marrying men who have not had their previous marriages annulled; a no-no in the Catholic church) and following the rules of the Catholic church, which somehow becomes more important to her after her parents die, first one and then the other.

One theme is how much the characters allow religion to rule their happiness, especially in the case of Sebastian and Julia. They struggle to balance what they want and need with what the church says they are allowed to have/do.

Narrator Charles is deeply involved with the family but not religious, so he maintains an obejectiviy on many of their issues. Although I'd describe the book as being about faith, it's not clear how strong Sebastian and Julia's feelings are about Catholicism as they never discuss it with Charles nor do they express their spiritual side or what it is they get out of observing the religion, there is only their behavior to go by and notice what it is taking out of them. Is their belief unquestioned and just innate within them despite their education and intelligence?

One element that is hard to reconcile is that infidelity is acceptable to the Marchmains over divorce. I was raised Catholic and am aware that cheating was never okay. Yet somehow, with the Marchmains, it is preferable to divorce/remarriage. In addition to Julia's well-known affair with Charles, Lord Marchmain kept a mistress, and his wife accepted this.

The second half moved quicker and was easier to get invested in, maybe because the story clarifies the stakes of the relationships.

The book ends on a down note and the feeling that Charles suffered just as much or more than the family he was involved with, despite not having the same internal conflicts with faith versus personal fulfillment.