I love love LOVE Brideshead Revisited and my love for it has a lot to do with the fact that it's not a sanitised, pious type of holiness. It's messy, real, joyful, sorrowful, sinful, grace filled. I am running off now to find a copy of your new book asap!
I hope this isn’t something considered a complaint or accusatory - it's not meant to be any of that at all, but a perspective offered into this conversation after consideration of this topic (both as a reader and a writer, though I've never had anything published so I know it's not the same) over a number of years.
I completely agree with what you've said about needing real people and real situations for moving stories. I too was moved by Brideshead Revisited, and though I haven't read much Flannery O'Conner (mostly just because she hasn't made it to the top of my long list yet), I have spent a lot of time yelling 'No, don't do that!' at the characters in Kristen Lavransdatter, The Power and the Glory, etc. My sister and I have long had a running joke that you can tell the good guys in a Christian novel because they drink soda instead of beer. ;-) People cuss and drink and make poor choices and lead lifestyles that lead them into sin and brokenness, and acknowledgement of that makes for compelling reading.
That said ... there are a couple of things that when I see them in a novel do make me truly uncomfortable, and one of those is the use of Christ's name as an expletive. After long consideration, it seems to me that this more than many other situations found in the pages of a novel is something that actually draws the author (and in some ways the reader) into the sin. In order to place those words into a person's mouth, it seems to me that the author him- or herself has to be breaking the commandment, and the reader is exposed in a way that's often hard to skip because it is scattered throughout the dialogue rather than concentrated in one place (rather than, for example, an on-the-page sex scene). Much of the rest of the sin and brokenness found in a novel (though I'm sure there are other examples) doesn't seem to me to require the sin itself in order to describe it. That's not to say characters can't cuss - but there are a whole plethora of other cuss words available that people use all the time.
Anyway. I am certain others may not agree with this perspective ... but these have been my thoughts on this particular topic over the years. Just thought I’d toss them out there. :-)
An old family friend of ours wrote a scathing review of my first novel insisting that she couldn't understand why I needed to use swear words. In a young adult book. About teenagers. In high school. *le sigh*
Puritanical culture is so sad sometimes... it seems to be pure stiffness, tight to the point that not even the Light can get through. Flannery O'Connor is so wonderful too, thank you for this piece.
If you don’t mind sharing— having read both Brideshead Revisited & Funeral Ladies this year, albeit a few months apart, I didn’t make the connection! Which scene is an homage? (Or maybe share the page numbers if it reveals key plot points? I really don’t know when it is.)
I guess I feel surprised when I hear how many people deeply, deeply love Brideshead! I did enjoy it, and I did see the ways that God works through various characters. I’m not sure if I feel differently because of personal preference, or if I truly missed some of the depth other people experience with it — but it makes me want to revisit it (lol) and see what I think on reread.
This is just a rambly thought from me that might not apply to you at all, but another large reason why I love Brideshead so much is because it really explains the experience of being an English Roman Catholic (as opposed to being an 'Anglo Catholic' or High Church Anglican etc. Although I'm absolutely not a member of the British aristocracy in the early 20th Century (haha), for me, reading it for the first time in my parents' tiny house in 2009, the many nuances and intricacies of English Catholicism still felt very true to my experience of being Catholic and English.
So potentially this might be an aspect of the novel that's harder to identify with if you're from a different country/heritage/background etc?
Actually, I think I figured it out- bit of a “oh, of course!” moment there 😂
Though what’s even funnier to me is that I read your book when it came out, and then read Brideshead in April, so if I HAD made the connection initially, maybe I would’ve thought, “Huh! This is just like the character in Funeral Ladies!” 😆
I love love LOVE Brideshead Revisited and my love for it has a lot to do with the fact that it's not a sanitised, pious type of holiness. It's messy, real, joyful, sorrowful, sinful, grace filled. I am running off now to find a copy of your new book asap!
It’s truly one of my forever and ever favorites.
I hope this isn’t something considered a complaint or accusatory - it's not meant to be any of that at all, but a perspective offered into this conversation after consideration of this topic (both as a reader and a writer, though I've never had anything published so I know it's not the same) over a number of years.
I completely agree with what you've said about needing real people and real situations for moving stories. I too was moved by Brideshead Revisited, and though I haven't read much Flannery O'Conner (mostly just because she hasn't made it to the top of my long list yet), I have spent a lot of time yelling 'No, don't do that!' at the characters in Kristen Lavransdatter, The Power and the Glory, etc. My sister and I have long had a running joke that you can tell the good guys in a Christian novel because they drink soda instead of beer. ;-) People cuss and drink and make poor choices and lead lifestyles that lead them into sin and brokenness, and acknowledgement of that makes for compelling reading.
That said ... there are a couple of things that when I see them in a novel do make me truly uncomfortable, and one of those is the use of Christ's name as an expletive. After long consideration, it seems to me that this more than many other situations found in the pages of a novel is something that actually draws the author (and in some ways the reader) into the sin. In order to place those words into a person's mouth, it seems to me that the author him- or herself has to be breaking the commandment, and the reader is exposed in a way that's often hard to skip because it is scattered throughout the dialogue rather than concentrated in one place (rather than, for example, an on-the-page sex scene). Much of the rest of the sin and brokenness found in a novel (though I'm sure there are other examples) doesn't seem to me to require the sin itself in order to describe it. That's not to say characters can't cuss - but there are a whole plethora of other cuss words available that people use all the time.
Anyway. I am certain others may not agree with this perspective ... but these have been my thoughts on this particular topic over the years. Just thought I’d toss them out there. :-)
An old family friend of ours wrote a scathing review of my first novel insisting that she couldn't understand why I needed to use swear words. In a young adult book. About teenagers. In high school. *le sigh*
Puritanical culture is so sad sometimes... it seems to be pure stiffness, tight to the point that not even the Light can get through. Flannery O'Connor is so wonderful too, thank you for this piece.
If you don’t mind sharing— having read both Brideshead Revisited & Funeral Ladies this year, albeit a few months apart, I didn’t make the connection! Which scene is an homage? (Or maybe share the page numbers if it reveals key plot points? I really don’t know when it is.)
I guess I feel surprised when I hear how many people deeply, deeply love Brideshead! I did enjoy it, and I did see the ways that God works through various characters. I’m not sure if I feel differently because of personal preference, or if I truly missed some of the depth other people experience with it — but it makes me want to revisit it (lol) and see what I think on reread.
This is just a rambly thought from me that might not apply to you at all, but another large reason why I love Brideshead so much is because it really explains the experience of being an English Roman Catholic (as opposed to being an 'Anglo Catholic' or High Church Anglican etc. Although I'm absolutely not a member of the British aristocracy in the early 20th Century (haha), for me, reading it for the first time in my parents' tiny house in 2009, the many nuances and intricacies of English Catholicism still felt very true to my experience of being Catholic and English.
So potentially this might be an aspect of the novel that's harder to identify with if you're from a different country/heritage/background etc?
That’s a good point- I hadn’t thought of that! But I can totally see how that would be impactful for someone both English and Catholic!
Actually, I think I figured it out- bit of a “oh, of course!” moment there 😂
Though what’s even funnier to me is that I read your book when it came out, and then read Brideshead in April, so if I HAD made the connection initially, maybe I would’ve thought, “Huh! This is just like the character in Funeral Ladies!” 😆
Amen, amen, amen, amen!
I am so passionate about the understanding of fiction that Flannery O’Connor espouses. Thank you for sharing this!!