R.A.D. StainforthI find Waugh’s reputation a bit mystifying. He seems to embody several aspects of English life that I don’t really find very congenial.
Isn’t his work supposed to be only partially accessible to the non-Catholic mind? I have a non-Catholic mind, and I think I get Waugh in one.
Evelyn Waugh’s Catholicism as far as I can make out is an expression of his snobbery. He was a member of a fantasy version of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales in which there were no Irish. That does not correspond to reality. He was not an admirable person, but I must say his kind of conservatism is one with which I can sympathize (contempt of the nouveau riche and the plutocratic.)
Having been a bit sniffy of Waugh’s personality and his religion, I must quote the following passage from his historical novel, Helena. I find it a far more moving piece of Catholic apologetic than I remember Brideshead Revisited. It deals with the mother of the Emperor Constantine. Towards the end of the book she attends a service commemorating the visit of the Wise Men to the infant Jesus:
“This is my day,” she thought, “and these are my kind.”
“Like me,” she said to them, “you were late in coming. The shepherds were here long before; even the cattle. They had joined the chorus of angels before you were on your way. For you the primordial discipline of the heavens was relaxed and a new defiant light blazed amid the disconcerted stars.”
“How laboriously you came, taking sights and calculating, where the shepherds had run barefoot! How odd you looked on the road, attended by what outlandish liveries, laden with such preposterous gifts!”
“You are my especial patrons,” said Helena, “and the patrons of all late-comers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation, of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt, of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.”
“Dear cousins, pray for me,” said Helena, “and for my poor overloaded son.”
I find that very helpful, and beautifully written.
