talent show / brideshead

The week flew by. We had a talent show in the Combination Room at Trinity on Thursday. My class sang four songs: "The Outdoor Type;" "SOS;" "With or Without You;" and "The Lottery Song." I played guitar for three songs and sticks on the other. Angel, a student with a tremendous amount of positive energy played guitar on one song. The students put a lot into their performance. They made me proud.

My family is all out of town. SJ & everyone went out to spend a week in the country. My sister and her husband are on their honeymoon in Amsterdam/Paris/Barcelona, and my dad & stepmom are in Scotland. Having some extra time on my hands has led me to watch a good chunck of the "Brideshead Revisited" miniseries, and read some of my favourite sections of the book. I have an old Penguin copy with lots of notes in it.

It recently came to my attention that Cara (Lord Marchmain's mistress), Julia, and Bridey offer three haunting views of Sebastian's alcoholism.

Charles and Sebastian drink together quite a bit during their first year at Oxford. While in Venice, during their summer vacation, Cara says to Charles, "Sebastian drinks too much ... He will be a drunkard if someone does not come to stop him. I have known so many. Alex [Sebastian's father] was nearly a drunkard when he met me; it is in the blood. I see it in the way Sebastian drinks. It is not your way (Ch. 4, Et In Arcadia Ego, p. 100)."

Later, amidst Sebastian's disastrous Easter Break in second year, Julia says to Charles, "Poor Sebastian. It's something chemical in him (Ch. 5, Et In Arcadia Ego, p. 125)." To readers, Charles replies, "It was the old concept of determinism in a new form. I do not believe there was anything chemical in my friend (Ch. 5, Et In Arcadia Ego, p. 125)."

After spending fall studying art in Paris, Charles returns to England for Christmas. In late December he visits Brideshead, and sees Sebastian for the first time in months. Sebastian too has been abroad, traveling with Samgrass. Sebastian is no longer permitted to drink in his home and in private Bridey confides to Charles, "I hope it is dipsomania. That is simply a great misfortune that we must all help him to bear. What I used to fear was that he just got drunk deliberately when he liked and because he liked ... There's nothing wrong in being a physical wreck, you know. There's no moral obligation to be Postmaster General or Master of Foxhounds or to live to walk ten miles at eighty (Ch. 1, Brideshead Deserted, p. 158)."

I have watched six episodes of Brideshead Revisited this week and have put some F. Scott Fitzgerald on hold to reread parts of the book.

As the rain has stopped I had better go out for a run.