In the next two episodes, we discuss together the classic work that National Review called, “The greatest 20th century work on time and grace.” Brideshead Revisited is that rare novel that marries style and substance powerfully. The prose is engaging and loaded with memorable lines and phrases. All this is in service to a serious attempt to lay out in a narrative all the ways that the Sacramental life “ruins” a person for mere worldliness. It’s a truly great book, and I’m very excited to share it with you.
Just to whet your appetite, here’s an example of the description of the shallow agnostic character named Rex:
“He wasn’t a complete human being at all. He was a tiny bit of one, unnaturally developed; something in a bottle, an organ kept alive in a laboratory. I thought he was a sort of primitive savage, but he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce. A tiny bit of a man pretending to be whole.”
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
There are many ways to approach a deep work like this. We will look at it through the lens of the different characters and their spiritual journeys in the story. During the first episode, we will look at Sebastain, Lord and Lady Marchmain, Rex and Hooper. In the second episode, we will consider Cordelia, Julia, and Charles.