Brideshead Revisited

In a preface to a 1959 edition of Brideshead Revisited, Waugh describes the novel as “a souvenir of the Second War rather than of the twenties or thirties, with which it ostensibly deals” (8). Select a passage that does not openly discuss the 1940s and analyze how Charles’s narrative style suggests that, even when discussing the past, he is focused on his present.

Does the novel suggest that love is inherently impermanent? Explore two relationships (romantic or otherwise) and analyze them to build an argument that answers this question.

How does setting change (or not change) Charles’s perspective? Make a case for one setting that changes him and one that doesn’t, using these examples to theorize how Waugh presents setting as a plot motivator.