Dr. White begins his commentary, “The Life of Evelyn Waugh,” with an exploration of the author’s background. Drawn on varied aspects of Waugh’s life this background formed the inspiration for Brideshead Revisited. The novel reveals that Waugh was in fact an apologist for the Catholic faith, albeit well aware of his own human failings. And his experiences during his years at Oxford also seep through the pages of the book. White goes on to explore Waugh’s life during the Roaring 20s, a time when the author ran with what was known as “the smart set.”
The first part of the book takes place in 1864 when the antihero is 40 years old. He is a government worker with a pathetic lonely life filled with images of his own false superiority. It keeps him aloof from all human contact. Now, the story goes back to 1848 when he is 24 years old. The 1840’s fostered egoism and the dream world of universal idealism. It is the natural extension of romanticism, which created a happy world while ignoring basic moral obligations. It is a false vision. There is this overwhelming sense of love of all humanity. It is easier to love humanity in the abstract rather than do actual works to help. The antihero is filled with egoism. He has to look down on others, but he also needs their attention and approval. How can he know he is wonderful unless others tell him? He loathes them because he needs them. This vanity destroys capacity for social union because he is much better than them. He has the chance to open himself up possibly for the first time in his life to a prostitute, it frightens him, and re runs back to his insanity to remain safely there.
In part one of his commentary on Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Dr. White delves into the details of the novel, in particular its characters. He maintains that the book is about God: about the operation of Divine grace within the world. A novel in two parts –– Book One and Book Two –– Waugh’s opus holds up a mirror to the face of nature, and is an example of magnificently simple literary structure written with artistic perfection. White emphasizes these elements by reading excerpts from the book in his inimitable dramatic style.
Dr. White’s introduction to T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland begins with a brief description of the origins of poetry, which White describes as the oldest of all literary art forms; a form transmitted orally long before it was ever written down. He demonstrates how Eliot became our own poetic voice, and he explores The Wasteland as a bleak poem that has the power to uplift us, and which has been called a revolution in poetry.
In the second part of his commentary on Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Dr. White continues with his analysis of the characters and main plot lines, while he illustrates his assessments with skillfully read excerpts. It is a novel figuratively without fathers, White maintains, as he discusses the bleakness of Charles’ youth and the abandonment of Sebastian, a tortured soul who nevertheless is the central character of Book One. Lord and Lady Marchmain, Julia, Bridie, Cordelia, and others are all brought to life with Dr. White’s reading.
Dr. White continues his introduction to T. S. Eliot by exploring the poet’s somewhat rootless youth. Though an American by birth, Eliot was never comfortable for long in one spot –- or in one country. At age 17 he graduated from Harvard after only three years, and shortly thereafter left America for Europe where he continued to move frequently from country to country. In fact, much of The Wasteland was written while Eliot lived in Switzerland. White further posits that the poem, unlike much of its contemporary work, was far from what was considered the “romantic vision” of its day, dealing as it does with the world’s fascination for and love of death.
