Evening star., 1946-01-06
Evelyn Waugh Paints
A Mastery Portrait
OF Family Ruin
BRIDESMAID REVISED

By EDelyn Waugh. little
BroUn;: $2.50l
At a time when it has become
conventional to say that the erst-
while skeptics among the authors
are turning to religion it is interest
Ing to come upon skeptic who
emphatically abides by his skep-
ticism In his present novel Evelyn
Waugh gives us a mastery portrait
of the ruin of a generation in a
distinguished English house and
attributes the disaster in great part
to an unintelligent attitude toward
religion.
The distinction Immediately arises,
of course, between religion and an
unintelligent attitude toward re-
hgion. One may fairly say that
where there is an unintelligent atti-
tude toward anything the lack Of
intelligence is the point at fault.
Among Mr.. Waugh's characters,
however, the failure of intelligent
thinking seems to stem from their
very piety. They are not unin-
telligent men and women but they
use small intelligence in relation
to their religion.
Basically the novel is study of
family neuroseS in which religion
has dominating role. Lady March,
main, the devout Catholic mother,
drives her husband from her by
her extreme religious zeal. The
four children then grow up in the
divided household. The oldest son,
the heir to the ancient title, wants
to enter the church but is restrained
by his feeling of duty toward his
family, and so lives unhappily until,
in middle age, he falls prey to an
adventures. The second son, Sc
bastian, is pagan by temperament;
his nature clashes with his re-
ligion and he is haunted in his
efforts to realize himself by sense
of sin; he becomes drunkard.
One of the daughters makes an
unhappy marriage. the other-the
only Marchmain to attain an ap-
proach to happiness-sinks herself
in welfare work. So the family
comes to sterile end, largely
through the influence of the truly
religious Lady Marchmain, who
does not understand that her vision
is not the only one.
No Attack on Religion.
1t would be- a mistake, however, to
construe Mr.. Waughs novel as an
"attack" on religion, for it is not an
attack on anything. 1t is too good
a novel to be SO described. 1t is a
somber and mastery picture of an
old house in decay, unable to assert
it's vitality and bound to fall prey
to some stronger influence. The in
f1uence appears in Lady March,
mains piety combined with her IA
tai lack of psychological insight.
She substitutes dogmatic religious
rule for understanding in dealing
with her children.
Since the decay of the March,
mains takes place in Goth century
environment, however, Mr.. Waugh
turns the force of Goth century crit
icism upon the forces with which
ne deals, and it is there that he as
serts his own unregenerate skepti-
cism, aforementioned He is OBJ
viously untouched by the recent lit
erary movement toward faith. He
writes as nationalist, putting his
rationalistic views in the mouth of
tho ssI'' uyhn tells the story friend
who has to watch the ruin of the
young Marchmains without being
able to stay it. But, even as he crit
icizes the irrationality of faith, Mr.
Waugh makes it plain that the
Marchmains are doomed anyway.
They lack the strength to fight the
world, in any form.
The book is a fine piece of writing.
The mood is pitched in harmony
with the theme of decay. The gloom
of sad autumns marks the cadence
nf the writing