Greetings, fellow sojourners!
I’ve decided that we need to start posting in more categories and finding a more regular rhythm for our musings here. To that end, I invite everyone (and particularly my fellow Luceat! bloggers) to start looking at their book collections with an eye toward the good, the true, and the beautiful.
I plan “From the Bookshelf” as a recurring feature wherein the blogger
- selects a title that actually resides on his bookshelf,
- which he has actually read, and
- proposes that others read it, defending its ability to enlighten, entertain, and edify.
The titles will be presented in no particular order other than that in which they struck the poster’s mind.
Sound like a good plan? OK.
The inaugural book-Dave-says-you-should-read is Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. You can (and should) buy a very reasonably priced copy here.
Why is Brideshead so great? Waugh is a master of language who weaves an intensely human story; his prose paints a rich and compelling portrait of the often-tragic comedy of human fallenness. An adult convert to Catholicism, Waugh’s experience of the drama of sin and redemption is evident in the journey undertaken by his protagonist, Charles Ryder.
I will refrain from writing a complete review here–there are many around the web, and I wouldn’t want to ruin the story for those who’ve not had the privilege of reading it. I will say this, however: There are some who shy away from a novel like Brideshead because of the particular kinds of implicit (and sometimes explicit) sinfulness of its characters (I offer the combox as an excellent forum to further discuss this aspect of the book); those who have read the book in its entirety and can still find no use for what George Weigel would call the really Catholic ‘grittiness’ of the narrative are not to be trusted to recommend worthwhile fiction.
For the sake of keeping things lively, I’m open to debating the above. It suffices to say, however, that Waugh had a very keen Catholic imagination he employed to weave a classic tale of sin and redemption — which, if we stop to look and listen, is the very same sort of tale each of us lives.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Kelly // Jan 26, 2007 at 4:55 pm
This is also among my favorite books. I have found myself defending this book, among others like Faulkner and Graham Greene, using arguments similar to those of Flannery O’Connor. She defends the portrayal of the more “grotesque” aspects of life in order to awaken a perverse generation, numb to the spiritual and the horror of true evil. You can read more of her well expressed philosophy in the collection Mystery and Manners. I think there is a line that can be crossed in terms of explicit detail, but these great Catholic authors are sensitive to that line and do not stoop to the verbal pornography so popular in modern fiction writing. At the same time, I would not recommend their writings universally, as some readers are more sensitive than others to strong imagery. Please contribute your thoughts!
2 Nathan // Feb 2, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I need to read this book! Everyone is always saying great things about it.
3 Matthew // Feb 3, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I have not read Brideshead revisted but have read another book by Evelyn Waugh, St. Edmund Campion, Priest and Martyr. He paints a great picture of the cultural and historical settings of his life in addition to his spiritual life. A great read particularly the Brag (I believe) while his intenstines were ripped out before he was hung.
4 Thomas // Feb 11, 2007 at 12:33 am
Yes - read Brideshead!
I, too had a little difficulty with it at first because I didn’t see the point of what was being recounted. But I gradually realized that it is a story about sin and grace: sin has real consequences, but in “everyday” life there is real redemption from real sin by grace.
Another way in which Waugh has a very perceptive Catholic sense is in how he portrays the interplay between the natural and spiritual - grace does not cancel out the natural but builds on and perfects it. Keep an eye out for the each character’s development of personality and how sin and its consequences impede or stunt it - and by consequence their spiritual development.
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