Customer Reviews

BRIDESHEAD GEN PA

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an admirable book, well written, balanced and well researched. After a slightly hesitant start, the scene shifts to Oxford in the early twenties; it comes across as a very dissolute place, with distinct homosexual undertones. The noticeable "public school" backdrop leaves you wondering why anyone should send their child to an English boarding school (at very great expense, incidentally). But they did, and still do. However, at Oxford we are introduced to a veritable galaxy of talent, including Evelyn Waugh, the lead character in the book, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster, Anthony Powell and others. There are some very amusing quotes and anecdotes.

But the book becomes increasingly serious, and whilst not specifically a work of literary criticism, it cites reviews and gives the background to the works of Waugh and to a lesser extent others. It also looks at the curious world of the Roman Catholic convert. At the end I felt a little sad for Waugh and some of his contemporaries. In spite of their achievements, by no means all of them seemed happy.

I loved it the first time but may be enjoying it even more the second--possibly because in the interim I have read Beerbohm (Zuleika Dobson in particular; the existence of which this book made me aware), Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, and others. (In some ways this group literary biography tops Powell's work - by the end of Time, I felt a bit worn out by the multitude of characters who appeared so briefly, whereas here I feel like I get a bead on even the most minor "characters." Very much feel like I'm in the company of someone who knows his stuff--knows the best stories--has an eye for great detail and great anecdote, and an empathy (balanced by humor, or vice versa) for his subjects. And he's sitting there in a study with a ton of personal letters and memoirs and diaries spread out on the table, pointing out the best bits. Excellent writer, too. And no, I am no relation....

In the Author's Note, Humphrey Carpenter states: 'This is a study of several writers and their circle . . . Evelyn Waugh is the central figure in the narrative . . . I have not, however, tried to write an exhaustive biography of him' (p.ix). Even though that might not have been Humphrey Carpenter's aim, it is what he has achieved. This book is not, as the title suggests, a balanced study of similarly aged individuals who simultaneously attended different Oxford University colleges for two or three years, as did the fictitious Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited during the same historical period.

In addition to Evelyn Waugh, the principal figures Humphrey Carpenter collectively refers to as 'The Brideshead Generation' are: Harold Acton, Brian Howard, Cyril Connolly, John Betjemen, Henry Yorke, Graham Greene, John Sutro, Anthony Powell, and Osbert Lancaster. Waugh seems to be prominent, not because 'he displayed the characteristics and conflicts of the group more intensely and dramatically, and entertainingly, than any other member' (p.ix), but because he was the author of the very popular book that lends this book its theme. To claim that Waugh typified the group's characteristics is misleading. Although attending Oxford University at the same time, this was far from being a homogeneous group.

All these individuals led interesting and eventful lives after leaving Oxford University. Harold Acton, for example, lived in China for many years (two very interesting, and beautifully written, autobiographies). Osbert Lancaster was a cartoonist, most notably for the Daily Express. John Betjemen became Poet Laureate in 1972. Norman Sherry documents the drama of Graham Greene's life and his extensive travels in three weighty volumes of biography. During the war, Anthony Powell served in military intelligence; he later wrote the twelve-volume novel, 'Dance to the Music of Time' (scarcely mentioned). Although briefly discussed at different points in the book, compared with Waugh, there is disproportionately little detail about these and other group members' lives, or their work.

The plates within the book reflect the skewed emphasis on Waugh: there are photographs of Waugh's grandfather, father, brother, his first and second wives, and his children; but (excepting the poor quality, over-enlarged group photograph on the cover), no photographs of Harold Acton, Henry Yorke, John Sutro or Osbert Lancaster. Of the 44 plates inside the book, 26 are of Waugh, his family, his possessions, or his drawings.

The narrative ceases when Waugh passed away in 1966; there are only a few 'mopping up' paragraphs which ignore most members of the cohort. This is disappointing and further contradicts the book's title. Except for Brian Howard, all the individuals mentioned above lived many years after Waugh's death: Graham Greene lived until 1991; Harold Acton until 1994; and Anthony Powell survived Waugh by 34 years.

My three star rating is due to expectations arising from the title being largely unfulfilled. Considered as a biography of Waugh, this book is patchy but quite interesting. Most of the information it contains is covered more comprehensively in biographies of Waugh explicitly labelled as such. This is a splendid idea for a book, and Humphrey Carpenter has a fluent and readable style, but, due to the shortcomings described above, it is ultimately a disappointment.

Highly enjoyable book, though the contemplation of the level of seemingly effortless wit and culture, and by such young people, on display within makes one wonder what went wrong with his own development. I found Carpenter's overall tone towards Waugh a little too reverent at times. He was a fine writer and I appreciate that he was a formidable personality, but there were plenty of occasions when he was ridiculous, or nasty, where I don't feel it was necessary to continue to defer to him on the grounds of his literary genius. I always want some sense that the biographer or historian is on near equal footing with his subject in some area of active or mental life, and I never feel this with Carpenter.

Much is made sometimes of the lack of personal happiness enjoyed by many of the figures in this book, but I don't see them as any unhappier than legions of people of a similar kind of intelligence but far less visible accomplishment and consequently at least equally consuming frustrations. The circumstances of these characters and the license of their statuses and in many instances personalities as artists allowed them to indulge in their depression a little more flamboyantly that the average cubicle sap can permit himself to do, but I do not see them as inordinately unhappy compared to others so much as more elaborately developed in that direction.

I have written more on this book on my blog, bourgeoissurrender.[...]