Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited is a novel by Evelyn Waugh which follows Charles Ryder, his life, romances. and involvement with the Flyte family. The novel starts out in the 1920s and follows Charles to the 1940s.
Central themes are Catholicism, nostalgia, and the decline of the British aristocracy.
Waugh wrote a prequel, Charles Ryder's Schooldays, in 1945. It was first published post-mortem in the The Times Literary Supplement on March 5, 1982.See: Wikipedia:Evelyn Waugh bibliographySee: by Frances Donaldson (The New York Times, 1982)
Brideshead Revisited was adapted into a television miniseries in 1981 starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. In 2008 it was adapted into a film starring Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw. In this version, Lady Marchmain was portrayed by Emma Thompson.
== Canon ==
The novel is split into three parts, a prologue and an epilogue. 
=== Et in Arcadia Ego ===
Set in 1923, this section follows Charles Ryder in his life as an undergraduate reading history where he is befriended by Lord Sebastian Flyte. The following year Sebastian introduces Charles to his friends, and takes him to his family's mansion - Brideshead Castle in Wiltshire.
Charles briefly returns home during the summer holiday but is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian has a minor injury and spends the rest of the holiday with him.
=== Brideshead Deserted ===
The Flyte family becomes aware of Sebastian's drinking habits, attempting to stop him which only makes things worse. Charles leaves Brideshead after a falling out with Lady Marchmain. Julia, Sebsastian's sister, marries a man who, as it turns out, is a divorcé meaning they marry in an Anglican church. 
Julia asks Charles to find Sebastian after the latter has fled the country since he had been drifting away from his family. Charles finds him too ill to return to England and so returns to Brideshead to sort out his affairs.
=== A Twitch Upon the Thread ===
Charles finds success as an architectural painter. He has married and had two children but becomes cold to his wife. Julia separates from her husband and eventually forms a relationship with Charles. They plan on divorcing their partners to pursue a relationship with the other. 
The youngest sister of the Flyte family had been minstering to the wounded in the Spanish Civil War and returns to England with news about Sebastian - including that she predicts he will die soon. 
On the eve of the Second World War, Lord Marchmain returns to Brideshead to die there. He is appalled by the marriage of his eldest son to a middle class widow, so names Julia as the heir to the estate. This causes a knock on effect which leads Julia to decide she can't enter a marriage with Charles. 
In the epilogue Charles finds himself back at Brideshead as an army officer - "homeless, childless, middle-aged and loveless". He finds that the house has been damaged, but the private chapel has been reopened for the soldier's use.See: Wikipedia:Brideshead Revisited
== Fandom ==
A large percentaged of the fic, art and other fanworks created for Brideshead Revisited focus on the first two sections of the novel - Charles and Sebastian as the charming young men about to take on the world.
As of February 2024, 81 of the 126 fanworks posted on AO3 have the relationship tag for Sebastian Flyte/Charles Ryder. Whereas the semi-canonical Julia Flyte/Charles Ryder only has 6 works., AO3 tag works page (Accessed 25 February 2024.) On AO3 most Brideshead Revisited fanworks are tagged with the book fandom, but some are tagged with the film or television series.
Brideshead Revisited is eligible for the Yuletide small fandoms fic exchange, and over the years fans have written 23 stories based on the novel, the show, or the film.
=== Common Tropes ===
* Religious themes and imagery - these are highly popular due to the Flyte's Catholicism being a driving force and key motif in the novel
* Discussions of alcoholism, drinking, implied/ referenced alcoholism
==Fan Comments==
==Example Fanworks==
*The Beginning by chirography, written for the contrelamontre vacation challenge
*Lost and Found: a review of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited by The Feckless Wonder
==Fannish Resources==
*Brideshead Revisited tag at AO3
*Brideshead Revisited section at Fanfiction.net
*Brideshead Revisited tag at Audiofic Archive
*1981 tv gifsets at alexanderhamiltonisthebottom on tumblr
*bridesheadrevisitedtv on tumblr
*marchmainhouse livejournal community, created 26 April 2004
==References==
Category:Brideshead Revisited