… Evelyn Waugh as Catholic novelist: Brideshead Revisited and Helena. — Slate Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Well, the Brits seem to see Brideshead as having more to do with class than faith, thereby missing the point entirely (it is actually about repentance).
As for this piece, there's much that is good in it. But, while can see why Orwell would be regarded as among the "right people" (I'm less sure about Edmund Wilson), and I can see why some would regard William F. Buckley as among the "wrong people," but Clive James?
Then there's this: "Not only has Catholicism positioned itself as an antagonist to culture generally, retreating more and more into conservative and untenable positions, but a largely secular intellectual culture has arrived at the reasonable consensus that religious morality is just too simplistic for art." How exactly do you separate Western culture from the Catholicism it is, like it or not, grounded in? And precisely what culture is Catholicism antagonistic to? Please define. Finally, only someone who has tried to practice a faith can know how risible is the idea that "religious morality is just too simplistic."
Touche, Frank,and very understated. You charmed the writer's pants off.
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