“If

is not a great book, it’s so like a great book that many of us, at least while reading it, find it hard to tell the difference” (p. 233). So wrote Clive James in 1983, reviewing the television series of Waugh’s semi-autobiographical novel, adapted by John Mortimer and starring Jeremy Irons, which caused many to revisit

or to embark on Waugh’s self-appraised “magnum opus” for the first time. It is a journey worth making, for, though even Waugh, when revising it in 1960, found many flaws in it, the ultimate involvement with the fascinating Flytes, underpinned by Waugh’s stated theme of “the operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters” (p. 7), encapsulates a lost era within its lustrous pages.

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Citation: Garner-Jones, Susan. "Brideshead Revisited". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6207, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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