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The one published volume of Evelyn Waugh's autobiography, A Little Learning , 1 suggests that there are many connections between the author and his fictional character Charles Ryder, the protagonist of Brideshead Revisited? As a novelist, Waugh was careful not to make this parallel complete. But the stylistic similarities in description of Oxford between Brideshead Revisited and A Little Learning seem to be nothing short of remarkable.
Evelyn Waugh and Charles Ryder share many things: their talent for painting, their attendance at a public school other than Eton, their friendships at Oxford with graduates of Eton-aesthetes par excellence, their religious agnosticism, their neglect of studies, their delight in the languor of youth, their habit of drinking at the George , their affinity for the same kind of living quarters, their voluntary decisions to leave Oxford. What is important is that the things they share are described in the same way.
When he arrives at Oxford, Ryder is visited by cousin Jasper: "You're reading History? A perfectly respectable school. The very worst is English Literature and the next worst is Modern Greats" (BR 29, 3). Mr. Waugh autobiographical Iy comments: "Enqlish Literature was for women and foreigners; a new disreputable school named Modern Greats v,as for 'publicists and politicians'" (LL 173, 1). Logically enough, both Waugh and ivyder were majors in History Previous. "... i nad large rooms...