{"id":534,"date":"2015-09-03T14:10:05","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T14:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/?p=534"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:22:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:22:17","slug":"august-book-group-helena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/2015\/09\/03\/august-book-group-helena\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Group: Helena"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A cassette tape.<\/p><\/div>\n

Something rather exciting happened to Alexander Waugh and me over the summer. When I have time I\u2019ll tell you all about it, but for now the highlight is this: when digging around in Dr Winifred Bogaard\u2019s personal archive, we found five, never before heard cassette tapes (I include an image for the benefit of younger readers) of interviews recorded with important figures from Waugh\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

One of these was Auberon Waugh.<\/p>\n

On the tape, to which I listened at home on an ancient ghetto blaster (under-20s: they look like this<\/a>), Dr Bogaards asked Auberon why he thought Helena <\/em>was his father\u2019s favourite novel. Auberon gave two reasons:<\/p>\n

1. In Helena<\/em>, Waugh is deliberately manipulating history to fit his own view of the world.<\/p>\n

\"Auberon<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Parents always love the runt of the litter, and Helena<\/em> was poorly received.<\/p>\n

I’d love to hear your thoughts on 1. As for 2. \u2013 well, I can only say that the Book Group is developing a similar tendency. Hot on the heels of our unexpected pleasure in the much -maligned A Tourist in Africa<\/em>, we also found Helena <\/em>vastly endearing. Elizabeth-Anne even considered it to do much more for the Catholic cause than Bridehead Revisited <\/em>\u2013 though does not plan to cross the floor any time soon.<\/p>\n

Helena <\/em>is Waugh\u2019s only historical novel. It follows the legend of the supposedly British St. Helena, mother of the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. Helena follows suit and, after a life spent avoiding (but losing most of the male members of her family to) the intrigues of Roman politics, goes on a pilgrimage to discover the True Cross (i.e. the crucifix on which Christ died):<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing \u2018stands to reason\u2019 with God [said the bishop]. If He had wanted us to have it, no doubt He would have given it to us. But He hasn\u2019t chosen to. He gives us enough.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut how do you know He doesn\u2019t want us to have it\u2014the cross, I mean? I bet He\u2019s just waiting for one of us to go and find it\u2014just at this moment when it\u2019s most needed. Just at this moment when everyone is forgetting it\u00a0… there\u2019s a solid chunk of wood waiting for them to have their silly heads knocked against. I\u2019m going off to find it,\u201d said Helena.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Helena\u2019s 1950s idiom put contemporary reviewers off Helena<\/em>. They were not used to history, and especially religious history, written so colloquially. The book also suffered from the old curse that anything Waugh wrote that wasn\u2019t satirical or overtly autobiographical inevitably failed to meet the expectations of his reading public. But we found a lot to discuss in the novel, which is remains noteworthy for telling ancient Roman history from a woman\u2019s point of view. It is also just as critical of \u201cSociety\u201d as Vile Bodies <\/em>and A Handful of Dust, <\/em>and provides unique insights into Waugh\u2019s theology.<\/p>\n

Some of the group had a problem with the fact that nothing seems to happen in Helena<\/em> until she sets off on her pilgrimage as an old woman. Most \u201cimportant\u201d events \u2013 army clashes, usurpations and poisonings \u2013 happen offstage. For example, a newlywed Helena is told by her husband that he just needs to \u201ctidy a few things up\u201d \u2013 a euphemism, it transpires, for re-drawing the structures of power by betraying and slaughtering an entire army. First her son Constantine and then her grandson Crispus pop up at her villa at moments of crisis before disappearing again for years on end. Helena is promised a visit to Rome as a young girl, but doesn\u2019t get there until her son and grandson are fully grown. Her disillusionment with \u2018The City\u2019 fuels her determination to find something better, something true. It\u2019s a brave move, some of us thought, to devote so much of a novel to tedium. You could argue that it makes the final revelation all the more profound, and the theme of the \u2018latecomer\u2019 to faith is obviously close to Waugh\u2019s own heart. Helena is made to identify with the three wise men, and\u00a0prays to them on a visit to Bethlehem:<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/a>

A fragment of the True Cross, Vienna. Source: Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou are my especial patrons,\u201d said Helena, \u201cand patrons of all late-comers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation, of all who through politeness make themselves partners in guilt, of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDear cousins, pray for me,\u201d said Helena, \u201cand for my poor overloaded son. May he, too, before the end find kneeling-space in the straw\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor His sake who did not reject your curious gifts, pray always for all the learned, the oblique, the delicate. Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God when the simple come into their kingdom.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

British, no-nonsense Helena rejects the gaudy, superficial Christianity adopted by her son and his court, instead coming to \u2018kneel in the straw\u2019. And she is regarded by Waugh as the true founder of Catholicism.<\/p>\n

Waugh attracted controversy for citing \u2018modesty\u2019 as a desirable quality in women. Helena<\/em> makes clear that, by modest, Waugh does not necessarily mean shy and retiring, or even meek. Like the novel itself, Helena has been unfairly sidelined. She may be over-literal at times \u2013such as when she tests the healing powers of the cross by laying it alongside a dying woman- but novel and heroine alike boast a quiet, persuasive power that should not be overlooked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something rather exciting happened to Alexander Waugh and me over the summer. When I have time I\u2019ll tell you all about it, but for now the highlight is this: when digging around in Dr Winifred Bogaard\u2019s personal archive, we found five, never before heard cassette tapes (I include an image for the benefit of younger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waugh-book-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":620,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/waughandwords\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}