Brideshead Revisited is Evelyn Waughs stunning novel of duty and desire set amongst the decadent faded glory of the English aristocracy in the runup to the Second World WarThe most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waughs novels Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War It tells the story of Charles Ryders infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford then by his doomed Catholic family in particular his remote sister Julia Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from themEvelyn Waugh 190366 was born in Hampstead second son of Arthur Waugh publisher and literary critic and brother of Alec Waugh the popular novelist In 1928 he published his first work a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his first novel Decline and Fall which was soon followed by Vile Bodies 1930 A Handful of Dust 1934 and Scoop 1938 In 1939 he was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards serving in the Middle East and in Yugoslavia In 1942 he published Put Out More Flags and then in 1945 Brideshead Revisited Men at Arms 1952 was the first volume of The Sword of Honour trilogy and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize the other volumes Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender followed in 1955 and 1961If you enjoyed Brideshead Revisited you might like Waughs Vile Bodies also available in Penguin...
