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.
Dr. White opens Part One of his commentary on “Art and Architecture” with a description of a large private estate and the castle that dominates it, the castle we come to know as Brideshead. From there White delves into Waugh the young artist in the 20s who loved anything “modern,” even Picasso. White explores the art movements of the times, and broadens his commentary to include a comparison of art and photography and how those creative endeavors influenced Waugh the writer. White maintains that the decay of Brideshead was an architectural parallel to the apostasy of England.
In general remarks about T. S. Eliot and the factors that inspired him to write The Wasteland, Dr. White draws some comparisons to his (White’s) American education, which he considered his own “wasteland” in many regards, and likens it to the barren culture described in Eliot’s epic poem. Though White fondly recalls the teacher that he credits with being responsible for his becoming a Shakespearian scholar and authority, he laments that only an American –– in this case Eliot –– could have written The Wasteland, discarded elements of which Eliot later used to write The Hollow Men.
