Transcending Nostalgia:On The Idea Of Tradition In Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh is one of the most notable novelists in modern Britain.Among his many representative works,Brideshead Revisited is the best-selling one,which also represents the turning point of Waugh's creation.Unlike his earlier satires,this novel takes a serious tone,with the habitual cynicism replaced by romantic nostalgia for the past.Through the recollection of Charles Ryder,the protagonist and first-person narrator,Brideshead Revisited tells his former experiences in close relationship with the Marchmains,an aristocratic Anglo-Catholic family dwelling at Brideshead Castle in the suburbs of London before World War ?.The memory of Ryder reveals his deep yearning for a glorious English past.Many previous studies of this novel remain on the surface of"nostalgia",while overlooks the hero's change in attitude as he moves back into the military present from indulgence in the past,accompanied by his new understanding of tradition as he further recognizes tradition's positive role in societal reconstruction in the modern society.Therefore,this thesis aims to explore the idea of tradition in Brideshead Revisited mainly from the retrospective perspective of the narrator-protagonist Charles Ryder who reflects on his own national cultural traditions in reminiscence yet beyond nostalgic sentiments.Based on close reading of the text and with support of relevant theories,this thesis studies the novel's idea of tradition in respect of cultural inheritance within the framework of integrating tradition into modernity,carried out in the linear logic of Ryder's mental change.The following aspects will be analyzed in the thesis:specific traditions cherished in the past cultural context in the novel;the predicament of modernity in the present wartime world;and the reasons,measure and meaning of tradition being extended into modern situation.The thesis is divided into three parts:introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction part presents the life and literary experience of Evelyn Waugh as well as the gist of Brideshead Revisited;sorts the literature review of the novel studied at home and abroad;and accordingly expounds the research task with its significance,and the thesis structure.The main body consists of three chapters.Chapter Two deals with the nostalgic longing for past traditions shown earlier in the novel.First,it analyzes the connotations of the two traditions honored in the novel.The traditional English country house,Brideshead,is the site and carrier of an Catholic aristocratic heritage—the aristocratic tradition carrying the values of acclaiming humanistic quality that attaches importance to cultural cultivation and the sense of social commitment,and the Catholic tradition carrying the values of the moral pursuit of truth and love.Second,it analyzes Ryder's reclusive tendency of regarding tradition merely as a haven of consolation to escape from reality by assuming that the aristocratic and the Catholic traditions provide a sense of settledness with the Arcadian past,and form the social ideal of an organized community.Chapter Three discusses the predicament of the modern world in the novel.It points out the current problems confronted with the modern society which are contrary to the values of past traditions—tendency towards vulgarization and secularization,dissipation of authenticity,and life lost in fragmentation.And it interprets the root cause of such problems that lead to the predicament of modernity—disconnection with tradition,which means a break with the traditional foundation in the modern society.Chapter Four elaborates on the novel's renewed idea of supporting the continuance of tradition in the modern society.By noting Ryder's later return to the present subordinating to the demands at hand after a reflective recollection,this chapter first interprets the new findings on tradition's prime value and contemporary functions that outlive the ruins of modernity.The aristocratic and the Catholic traditions in the novel collectively form an enduring cultural force as well as the national ethos of dignity and order;and they can offer normative patterns of conduct,restore cultural confidence and re-energize the nation's unitary spirit,which confirms tradition's practical significance to the modern society.Furthermore,it examines the acts of inheriting tradition in the novel as well as the ultimate meaning in doing so.The connection of tradition to modernity enables a sense of continuity in cultural transmission and the common concern for identity either in individual or collective level.The conclusion part generalizes and summarizes the idea of tradition advocated in Brideshead Revisited,which is,one that pays homage to tradition and further carries it forward in modern situation rather than simply treat it as the spiritual home for nostalgic escape.It is not a conservative view that sticks to a better past being separated from the dreary reality;instead,it transcends nostalgia and suggests tradition's integration with modernity to ensure a powerful social transformation.The novel's view with respect to tradition calls on people to make use of the fine traditions to maintain continuity and identity in the historical process,constitute the traditional cultural code of social creation and modification,and bring order and meaning to human existence.