Brideshead Revisited is difficult to categorize, yet easy to remember. It's a portrait of English aristocracy during the 1920s, a bildungsroman, a tale of conversion, a romance, a tragedy, and a piece of art. In fact, never has a novel felt so much like an Impressionist painting—Waugh's prose being the sloppy brushstrokes that expertly evoke a feeling of a bygone time and place.
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The narrative unfolds as protagonist Charles Ryder, a Captain during World War II, finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, home to the aristocratic Flyte family. "My theme," says Charles, "is memory, that winged host." And with that, Charles brings us back to his days as a first-year college student at Oxford, where he first meets Lord Sebastian Flyte. Nineteen-year-old Sebastian is puerile (carrying his signature teddy bear around campus), witty, and exuberantly charming.
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The two become fast friends—debatably lovers—and soon the middle-class Charles is welcomed into Sebastian's inner world, where he fully embraces "the zest, generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth." He grows close with Sebastian's set, including openly gay Anthony Blanche, as well as with the Flytes, later becoming a lover to Sebastian's sister Julia.
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His frequent visits to Brideshead reveal that, despite the trappings of extreme wealth, the Flyte family is fundamentally dysfunctional, enduring addiction, adultery, and alienation. Through the years, however, one invisible thread unites the Flytes, which Charles fails to understand as an atheist: Catholicism. No matter how much they wander from their faith, "a twitch upon the thread" is enough to bring them back.
‍
While Brideshead is a staple of Catholic literature, the novel is not at all moralizing and its religious themes are subtle. My only revelation after reading this is a secular one—that I can feel a deep sense of nostalgia for homelands, and for periods, I have never experienced myself.
Brideshead Revisited is difficult to categorize, yet easy to remember. It's a portrait of English aristocracy during the 1920s, a bildungsroman, a tale of conversion, a romance, a tragedy, and a piece of art. In fact, never has a novel felt so much like an Impressionist painting—Waugh's prose being the sloppy brushstrokes that expertly evoke a feeling of a bygone time and place.
‍
The narrative unfolds as protagonist Charles Ryder, a Captain during World War II, finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, home to the aristocratic Flyte family. "My theme," says Charles, "is memory, that winged host." And with that, Charles brings us back to his days as a first-year college student at Oxford, where he first meets Lord Sebastian Flyte. Nineteen-year-old Sebastian is puerile (carrying his signature teddy bear around campus), witty, and exuberantly charming.
‍
The two become fast friends—debatably lovers—and soon the middle-class Charles is welcomed into Sebastian's inner world, where he fully embraces "the zest, generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth." He grows close with Sebastian's set, including openly gay Anthony Blanche, as well as with the Flytes, later becoming a lover to Sebastian's sister Julia.
‍
His frequent visits to Brideshead reveal that, despite the trappings of extreme wealth, the Flyte family is fundamentally dysfunctional, enduring addiction, adultery, and alienation. Through the years, however, one invisible thread unites the Flytes, which Charles fails to understand as an atheist: Catholicism. No matter how much they wander from their faith, "a twitch upon the thread" is enough to bring them back.
‍
While Brideshead is a staple of Catholic literature, the novel is not at all moralizing and its religious themes are subtle. My only revelation after reading this is a secular one—that I can feel a deep sense of nostalgia for homelands, and for periods, I have never experienced myself.
Brideshead Revisited is difficult to categorize, yet easy to remember. It's a portrait of English aristocracy during the 1920s, a bildungsroman, a tale of conversion, a romance, a tragedy, and a piece of art. In fact, never has a novel felt so much like an Impressionist painting—Waugh's prose being the sloppy brushstrokes that expertly evoke a feeling of a bygone time and place.
‍
The narrative unfolds as protagonist Charles Ryder, a Captain during World War II, finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, home to the aristocratic Flyte family. "My theme," says Charles, "is memory, that winged host." And with that, Charles brings us back to his days as a first-year college student at Oxford, where he first meets Lord Sebastian Flyte. Nineteen-year-old Sebastian is puerile (carrying his signature teddy bear around campus), witty, and exuberantly charming.
‍
The two become fast friends—debatably lovers—and soon the middle-class Charles is welcomed into Sebastian's inner world, where he fully embraces "the zest, generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth." He grows close with Sebastian's set, including openly gay Anthony Blanche, as well as with the Flytes, later becoming a lover to Sebastian's sister Julia.
‍
His frequent visits to Brideshead reveal that, despite the trappings of extreme wealth, the Flyte family is fundamentally dysfunctional, enduring addiction, adultery, and alienation. Through the years, however, one invisible thread unites the Flytes, which Charles fails to understand as an atheist: Catholicism. No matter how much they wander from their faith, "a twitch upon the thread" is enough to bring them back.
‍
While Brideshead is a staple of Catholic literature, the novel is not at all moralizing and its religious themes are subtle. My only revelation after reading this is a secular one—that I can feel a deep sense of nostalgia for homelands, and for periods, I have never experienced myself.
Brideshead Revisited is difficult to categorize, yet easy to remember. It's a portrait of English aristocracy during the 1920s, a bildungsroman, a tale of conversion, a romance, a tragedy, and a piece of art. In fact, never has a novel felt so much like an Impressionist painting—Waugh's prose being the sloppy brushstrokes that expertly evoke a feeling of a bygone time and place.
‍
The narrative unfolds as protagonist Charles Ryder, a Captain during World War II, finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, home to the aristocratic Flyte family. "My theme," says Charles, "is memory, that winged host." And with that, Charles brings us back to his days as a first-year college student at Oxford, where he first meets Lord Sebastian Flyte. Nineteen-year-old Sebastian is puerile (carrying his signature teddy bear around campus), witty, and exuberantly charming.
‍
The two become fast friends—debatably lovers—and soon the middle-class Charles is welcomed into Sebastian's inner world, where he fully embraces "the zest, generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth." He grows close with Sebastian's set, including openly gay Anthony Blanche, as well as with the Flytes, later becoming a lover to Sebastian's sister Julia.
‍
His frequent visits to Brideshead reveal that, despite the trappings of extreme wealth, the Flyte family is fundamentally dysfunctional, enduring addiction, adultery, and alienation. Through the years, however, one invisible thread unites the Flytes, which Charles fails to understand as an atheist: Catholicism. No matter how much they wander from their faith, "a twitch upon the thread" is enough to bring them back.
‍
While Brideshead is a staple of Catholic literature, the novel is not at all moralizing and its religious themes are subtle. My only revelation after reading this is a secular one—that I can feel a deep sense of nostalgia for homelands, and for periods, I have never experienced myself.
Brideshead Revisited is difficult to categorize, yet easy to remember. It's a portrait of English aristocracy during the 1920s, a bildungsroman, a tale of conversion, a romance, a tragedy, and a piece of art. In fact, never has a novel felt so much like an Impressionist painting—Waugh's prose being the sloppy brushstrokes that expertly evoke a feeling of a bygone time and place.
‍
The narrative unfolds as protagonist Charles Ryder, a Captain during World War II, finds himself stationed at Brideshead Castle, home to the aristocratic Flyte family. "My theme," says Charles, "is memory, that winged host." And with that, Charles brings us back to his days as a first-year college student at Oxford, where he first meets Lord Sebastian Flyte. Nineteen-year-old Sebastian is puerile (carrying his signature teddy bear around campus), witty, and exuberantly charming.
‍
The two become fast friends—debatably lovers—and soon the middle-class Charles is welcomed into Sebastian's inner world, where he fully embraces "the zest, generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth." He grows close with Sebastian's set, including openly gay Anthony Blanche, as well as with the Flytes, later becoming a lover to Sebastian's sister Julia.
‍
His frequent visits to Brideshead reveal that, despite the trappings of extreme wealth, the Flyte family is fundamentally dysfunctional, enduring addiction, adultery, and alienation. Through the years, however, one invisible thread unites the Flytes, which Charles fails to understand as an atheist: Catholicism. No matter how much they wander from their faith, "a twitch upon the thread" is enough to bring them back.
‍
While Brideshead is a staple of Catholic literature, the novel is not at all moralizing and its religious themes are subtle. My only revelation after reading this is a secular one—that I can feel a deep sense of nostalgia for homelands, and for periods, I have never experienced myself.
