Thank you, Grant! Since this video was made a few weeks ago (and I had the pleasure of viewing it on Patreon) I can say that I have read your collection of short stories & poem, and enjoyed it immensely! Everyone who enjoys your work here on UA-cam will most definitely enjoy reading your stories. Thank you again!
Thanks a lot Davood! I always appreciate your support. I hope you will enjoy Brideshead. I think you will, it is not very far away from Kundera's world, with some very deep themes. I shy away from the religious aspect, but; family, art, changing nature of friendship, marriage. All that was so well done in this novel. Thanks again Davood!
Reading this book right now after it was reccomended to me for the beauty of its prose. You have an excellent way of reviewing and going through the plot line with just the right amount of humour!
Thanks, I'm happy you enjoyed the video. I always try to put in just enough, but not too much, so that it is fun to watch and gives some interesting information. Thanks for writing!
Hello! A Handful of Dust is just a little too clever for me. It's like Waugh is sitting beside me, nudging me, asking, "Did you get what I did there?" Kind of annoying. Brideshead Revisited is entirely different, the tone is more serious, the themes are worth spending time considering. I especially enjoyed the aging process, as he goes from a young man full of promise, to a middle aged man, resigned to what life has given him. Wow, 3000 subscribers! I should get my hair done like yours!
@@thelefthandedreader6632 I think it will be a good experience. Handful of Dust can be a little goofy (Beaver's mother). Brideshead is really a great novel that deals with many weighty themes. Try not to let the silly-Waugh give you too many preconceptions about the somber-Waugh, they are quite different.
Sebastian hates his mother largely because of the utter contempt that she has for his father. Whilst the theme is catholicism, it is really a very well produced study of family trauma. The Marchmaines are a perfect example of a dysfunctional family that has been torn apart by emotional neglect. Catholicism is only the mechanism by which abusive control is exercised. Another important theme is artistic expression. As an 18 year old at Oxford Charles has a van Gough print in his room. His cousin Jasper disapproves. Later, when he is painting Marchmaine house, he describes at great length how he is suddenly inspired by the whole creative process. Cordelia comes in, and asks him to confirm that modern art is rubbish. He agrees. This is an important point in the book, just as he is experiencing the real thrill of artistic creativity, he rejects modernism. This is a young man who clearly admired van Gough just a few years before. He then becomes a succesful commercial artist producing charming paintings of English country houses. This brings him no satisfaction. He goes to Latin America in search of inspiration, and meets Julia on the way home. The fashionable London set love his new paintings, but he knows that they dont represent his true artistic soul. They are rubbish. The scene in the gay bar is critical. Anthony Blanch tells him what he already knows .... his art is crap because he has allowed himself to be taken in by shallow, superficial aristocratic idiots. "Charm is the great English vice. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and defiles everying it touches, it kills art, it kills love, and i greatly fear it has killed you". He then goes off to join Julia. This is the crux of the novel ..... he rejects his art and chooses "charm". From that point on he's just a pathetic hanger on. All of his self respect is gone. There is a parallel earlier in the novel. After his first lunch with Sebastian, he removes modernist art from his rooms in college.
Hello Ellen, thanks for writing. I did not see Saltburn, though I wanted to. I used to go to the movies all the time when I lived in Europe, but somehow I just don't enjoy it very much in Canada. The last movie I went to see was Dunkirk, which feels like a long time ago.
Thank you, Grant! Since this video was made a few weeks ago (and I had the pleasure of viewing it on Patreon) I can say that I have read your collection of short stories & poem, and enjoyed it immensely! Everyone who enjoys your work here on UA-cam will most definitely enjoy reading your stories. Thank you again!
Thanks a lot Davood! I always appreciate your support. I hope you will enjoy Brideshead. I think you will, it is not very far away from Kundera's world, with some very deep themes. I shy away from the religious aspect, but; family, art, changing nature of friendship, marriage. All that was so well done in this novel.
Thanks again Davood!
Strawberries and coddled cream for breakfast!! Thanks, Grant.
Very nice Deb, thanks!
Reading this book right now after it was reccomended to me for the beauty of its prose. You have an excellent way of reviewing and going through the plot line with just the right amount of humour!
Thanks, I'm happy you enjoyed the video. I always try to put in just enough, but not too much, so that it is fun to watch and gives some interesting information. Thanks for writing!
Grant, I just finished A Handful of Dust (what a strange, interesting book) and look forward to starting Brideshead Revisited!
Hello! A Handful of Dust is just a little too clever for me. It's like Waugh is sitting beside me, nudging me, asking, "Did you get what I did there?" Kind of annoying.
Brideshead Revisited is entirely different, the tone is more serious, the themes are worth spending time considering. I especially enjoyed the aging process, as he goes from a young man full of promise, to a middle aged man, resigned to what life has given him.
Wow, 3000 subscribers! I should get my hair done like yours!
@@grantlovesbooks , 🤣...regarding the 3k subscribers. Oh, I'm going to be interested in trying this Waugh, after Handful of Dust, that's for sure!
@@thelefthandedreader6632 I think it will be a good experience. Handful of Dust can be a little goofy (Beaver's mother). Brideshead is really a great novel that deals with many weighty themes. Try not to let the silly-Waugh give you too many preconceptions about the somber-Waugh, they are quite different.
@@grantlovesbooks , I’m intrigued!
Sebastian hates his mother largely because of the utter contempt that she has for his father.
Whilst the theme is catholicism, it is really a very well produced study of family trauma. The Marchmaines are a perfect example of a dysfunctional family that has been torn apart by emotional neglect. Catholicism is only the mechanism by which abusive control is exercised.
Another important theme is artistic expression. As an 18 year old at Oxford Charles has a van Gough print in his room. His cousin Jasper disapproves.
Later, when he is painting Marchmaine house, he describes at great length how he is suddenly inspired by the whole creative process. Cordelia comes in, and asks him to confirm that modern art is rubbish. He agrees.
This is an important point in the book, just as he is experiencing the real thrill of artistic creativity, he rejects modernism. This is a young man who clearly admired van Gough just a few years before.
He then becomes a succesful commercial artist producing charming paintings of English country houses. This brings him no satisfaction. He goes to Latin America in search of inspiration, and meets Julia on the way home.
The fashionable London set love his new paintings, but he knows that they dont represent his true artistic soul. They are rubbish.
The scene in the gay bar is critical. Anthony Blanch tells him what he already knows .... his art is crap because he has allowed himself to be taken in by shallow, superficial aristocratic idiots. "Charm is the great English vice. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and defiles everying it touches, it kills art, it kills love, and i greatly fear it has killed you".
He then goes off to join Julia. This is the crux of the novel ..... he rejects his art and chooses "charm". From that point on he's just a pathetic hanger on. All of his self respect is gone.
There is a parallel earlier in the novel. After his first lunch with Sebastian, he removes modernist art from his rooms in college.
Thanks Stuart!
hello from a fellow romantic lit lover! im wondering if you had a chance to see saltburn yet and what your thoughts are?
Hello Ellen, thanks for writing. I did not see Saltburn, though I wanted to. I used to go to the movies all the time when I lived in Europe, but somehow I just don't enjoy it very much in Canada. The last movie I went to see was Dunkirk, which feels like a long time ago.
Brideshead Regurgitated.