Two essays have recently been posted which discuss themes developed by Waugh in Brideshead Revisited. The first is entitled “Is Downton Abbey the best we can do?” and isĀ Ā posted on a political internet blogĀ called opendemocracy.net,Ā which is self described as nonpartisan. This compares Waugh’s version of the English class system as described in his novel to those in other works such as the novels of Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier’sĀ Rebecca and the TV serials Downton Abbey and Dallas.
The second is entitled “Baptizing the Modern World”Ā and is posted on a Roman Catholic theological blogĀ called Patheos. This essay seeks to explain how Waugh proselytizes his faith by placing his
audience directly into dialogue with a sympathetic and typically modern character, making them perfect examples of the New Evangelization. Waugh does this exceptionally well in Brideshead Revisited. From Book One, he places his reader alive in the modern world, āEt In Arcadia Ego,ā alongside protagonists Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte. Throughout the book, he weaves together a narrative of relationship and redemption enveloped in an ethos of hope.
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