Thursday, May 12, 2005

Helena by Evelyn Waugh

NOTES FROM READERS GROUP, MAY 8, 2005
"HELENA"
Present: Mary (guest), Imelda, Mark, Peter, Mary B., Katy, Br. Brendan, Brother Peter, Georgia
BP- I have an announcement: our notes will now be entered on line- at a blog site for now, eventually on the Monastery’s web site. This is to facilitate a wider group, including those who want to read along with us but can’t make it to the meetings.
I want to read a quote from the introduction to "Helena" in the Macmillan Publication of this book: they say that this book is similar to Gibbon’s "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." And in Waugh’s own words, it’s his best novel, that it was most important as it showed his writing to be a vocation: to write books that only he could write.
B- Notes the joke about author Gibbon in this book; very beautiful writing here, it sparkles at times, as in the description of Constantius’ aging.
BP- Terrific prose; how does it compare with "Brideshead Revisited?"
K-Brideshead is better; the characters in Helena are pretty flat, the canvas is too big and seems to presume previous knowledge of the geography and political climate.
Im- I agree; there’s no character development in this one; in Brideshead I really knew the characters.
B- The real main character here is the Church, as well as creating a mood. I think the death throes of paganism are portrayed in a way that Gibbon failed to do. In Helena we can see the impact this fall of the empire had on the individual; it captures the mood of the day.
G- They were certainly very accepting of the frequency of political assassinations
B- Like our own time.
Im Why did Waugh select Helena…and why did she become Christian?
B- See the preface- the "Invention of the Cross". Christianity was not a human invention.
BP- Christianity is true. She’s a British empiricist, who needed (wanted?) to see for herself the fact of the cross.
Im-I read it differently: she was so fixated on finding the cross, did she convince herself and others that that’s what it was?
G- I think the miraculous things that happen, like Marian appearances, (including the current "Our Lady of the Underpass") are God’s way of getting our attention. But it’s a mistake to have our faith depend solely on these events.
B_ Your questions are truly post-modern way of thinking. At that time they wanted historical things. Christianity’s great struggle was with Gnosticism; Christianity is historical and accessible.
Im- I think there’s too much stress on miracles; when that happens, religion suffers. Why extraneous things?
B- Because the miracle of God becoming man is the basis of our faith. It’s not a word pronouncing salvation, it’s a man.
G- Is the need for miracles dependent on culture? Is our "post-modern" questioning due to, like Helena’s time, one of paganism vs. Christianity?
B- Yes, the Vita Benedicti is evidence that this was necessary.
BP- I don’t think finding the cross led to her having faith, it was the other way around. In one sense this isn’t really necessary, but relics are real and show that we are an incarnational church- not Gnostic, where only the mind matters.
Im- Many things require a leap of faith; incarnation I can do, miracles are harder.
B- Miracles aren’t central to belief but there is a place for them= the healing power of Christ is still here; we believe because we’ve been given the gift of faith- it’s a charism given to the Church.
P- I think it’s also important to see that miracles still happen.
K- I didn’t buy Helena’s conversion-what happened to convert her?
Im- I can see what happened to her son….
K-there’s no witness…
Im- c’mon, Waugh, make something up!
G- Maybe he just wanted to keep the novel short…
B & Im- Her whole life showed an inquisitiveness, she had many questions and conversations about various religions, she showed a sharp mind…she wanted truth.
BP She wanted, facts, truth…the other religions simply were not true. I was disappointed though that there was no conversion story.
K- On page 9…a word of enlightenment…
MB- was this the same as the conversion of Lord Marchmain in Brideshead?
G- maybe we expect her to have had to learn about the kind of complex church we have today, with all its doctrines and liturgies and devotions. Wasn’t the Church much simpler then…you hear about Christ’s birth, death and resurrection, and either believe it or not…
B- There was a fairly well developed catechumanate by then, where the moral life was learned…
K- On page 129 (120?) ..Lactantius’ cryptic answer…
BP- We heard in "Catholic Literary Converts" that Waugh’s own conversion wasn’t spectacular; many writers have the same experience…once converted, they are more or less outcasts from there peers.
G- Most Protestant Churches don’t stress belief in miracles..it’s mostly seen as a Catholic thing
MB & B- converse about Protestants and miracles…they’re lack of contact with the early Church may be the cause of their unbelief in miracles…
BP- Lack of Apostolic succession leads to immaturity in the faith…that laying on of hands is life-changing.
BP & P to prayer-
MB- I felt the same as Brother Peter about this book
P-I’d like to add a book to our list:"The Name of Rose" by Umberto Eco.
After discussion on list of books it was decided our next read would be "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene.
You can now read these notes on this web site: www.catholicreaders.blogspot.com. If you do not have access to the internet, please call me, Georgia, at 708-788-9531 and I will mail you a copy.

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