Art And Nostalgia In Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited

The novel Brideshead Revisited(1945),an elegiac masterpiece by Evelyn Waugh(1903-1966),a modern British writer can be seen as the high point of his career.Its great success lies in its beautiful language,Catholicism,and overwhelming nostalgic sentiments.However,few researchers have touched upon the role of art in nostalgia’s function in the reconstruction of personal and national identity,and Waugh’s reflection on such reconstruction.By analyzing the art reference and the protagonist’s career as an artist,the thesis argues that nostalgia in Brideshead Revisited is not only a sentimental emotion,but it functions as a way to form Ryder’s personal identity as an aesthete and aristocrat and to reconstruct the continuity of Englishness,which has been ruptured by war,through the representation of art.In this way,the aestheticism will be examined,and the value of nostalgia,especially its aesthetic value,will be demonstrated.Chapter One uses Fred Davis’ nostalgic theory to analyse Ryder’s Oxford years,so that the relationship between art and the formation of Ryder’s personal identity as an aesthete and an aristocrat can be investigated by examining how nostalgia comes in.Waugh describes in detail how Ryder’s personal nostalgia embellishes the past,taking the indulgent youth and Brideshead’s architectural and decorative style as a symbol of personal identity,while the decadence of the family in Brideshead and the destruction of the castle itself cause deeper thoughts on the continuity of Englishness.Chapter Two applies Svetlana Boym’s theory about the relationship between nostalgia and national identity to examine how Ryder learns painting and creates the paintings of English declining country houses and the scenery of Latin America,calling the return of Englishness represented by higher artistic pursuit,more stable social order and stronger national strength.Chapter Three points out that the criticism on Ryder’s art,which can also be seen as a reflection on nostalgia itself,exposes the danger of sinking into the past and suggests the possibility of aiming for the future.However,because of Waugh’s stubborn insistence on elitism and aristocracy,the reflection is still limited.Brideshead Revisited reveals Evelyn Waugh’s serious thoughts on nostalgia.Instead of rebuilding the past,nostalgic art and nostalgia intend to achieve the construction and continuity of identity for the purpose of dealing with dynamics of modernity while carrying on the tradition.