BRIDESHEAD REVISITED- THE ENGLISH CATHOLIC

THE FOLLOWS ON FROM A DISCUSSION GROUP..OF SAME NAME ..


Bridey is the antithesis of Sebastian ; he has to be both to give tonality to the family assembly; he is monochrome where Sebastian is all luminous and like a brilliant bubble from a pipe - exudes for an instant the exquisitenesses of a rainbow and then puff and its gone- Anthony Blanche.Blanche later described Bridey as a sort of a great Lama heading of to the endless and pointless destiny of his predictable life.
He is happy after all to take over the meaningless continuity of the feudal system and has no vision or conscience to see the inequality his forbears have foisted of the farming community. the Wealth is assumed ; it is not earned nor is there any thought given to any altruism of the spirit. He prays dutifully - but disdains Catholicism and Christianity; he is not a reformer - that is repugnant to his nature; neither will he end up as a monk dying alone in an abbey never to be reconciled to god or to his family , because he has no spiritual attachment to either - He is ritualistic and predictable ; for him noblesse oblige and preserving the family escutcheon is all ; But nothing matters because he is so soulless.

On reflection I think Bridey was the character who best personified Waugh himself. Waugh had an indifferent relationship, was fastidious and petty minded in many things . He aspired to discovering an aristocratic lineage , and having failed to do so in the UK he retired to Ireland and bought a castle where he tried to life out his pretentious imaginings.
But he disdained the indigent Irish who had little interest in blue blooded ancestry , much to Waugh's exasperation . He eventually abandoned the project. If we are to believe what is written about him he was a pretentious ,intolerant and insufferable snob.He also , let it be said , wrote at least one masterpiece in Brideshead, which remains one of my favorite books and will remain in the canon of English literature , and Waugh's own name is firmly placed in the pantheon of major 20th century writing.

This was a book written by an atheist about an English Catholic Aristocratic family.
The family had resided in the family pile dating back to the battle of Agincourt.
They are resolute in their slavish fanatical ethos of their faith. The church forbids divorce ,and much of the book fringes on the periphery of theLord Marchmaain's dalliance and his escape from the strictures of catholicism. On his death bed he asks his daughter if it were not somehow acceptable to escapeas he did. No she says Im afraid not father , leaving the old man to die allienated from the family he presides over.
The English attitude towards catholicism was quite different to the Irish . The Irish attitude to their religion , which is almost an extension , or was, of the Irish Free State . De Valera consulted widely with the church regarding state policy regarding divorce , abstention , birth control , drinking. DEvalera's Ireland was a vision -almost an evangelical message he received from a higher power -a deity- he looked into his soul to see the yearnings of the Irish -as did Louis 1VX
He saw visions of a happy contented community with comely maidens dancing at the cross roads- whether he actually said the latter is disputed . There is something very risque about the concept now.
De valera and the Church had a profound impact on the governance of the practice of obstetrics to the extent that gynecologists in the late 50- early 60's were practicing symphysiotomies; where the pelvic joint is severed to facilitate further childbirth; this practice inflicted untold suffering of their unfortunate patients in later life- incontinence, pain etc.
This practice is now almost considered an assault of the person , such is its barbarity and clinical redundancy.
But suffering was considered an ennobling thing in childbirth; opiate medications were often withheld in the face of extreme pain.
This was also practiced in religious led hospitals; the feeling was that the suffering of the dying cancer patients in the agony of their last mortal torment could be debited as it were from the inevitable purgatory .
The piety of the 30- 50's Ireland was a contrast from the early monastic scholars of the 7th century , who paid little heed to Rome ; they took mistresses and continued their lives in prayer , worship,adoration study.
They brought their studies to the continent - to Rome itself - The Irish College still remains-The minks brought their learning back to the UK and established the first settled places of advanced learning in the humanities; hence the older colleges of both Oxford and Cambridge.

The Irish abandoned religion in the 80's - the last generation to attend to the faith were the baby boomers.
The Celtic tiger devoured not only adherence to faith , but also encouraged the abandonment of civility and courtesy . The Paris Hilton / Naomi Cambell role model is the adopted format and this is manifest in the drug and drink culture- seee main streets of any Irish town on a weekend night.