tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post5390144718738662724..comments2023-11-26T17:13:26.653-05:00Comments on Laughter and Humility (GK-CHESTERTON.ORG): "A Twitch Upon the Thread"Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-75838726674080177372020-07-20T15:39:08.538-04:002020-07-20T15:39:08.538-04:00Thanks for your comment and sharing your perspecti...Thanks for your comment and sharing your perspective.<br /><br />(BTW, I apologize for waiting a couple months to publish your comment....I had meant to before, and forgot about it! Oops!)Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-26205684590420865512020-05-22T17:32:52.576-04:002020-05-22T17:32:52.576-04:00I read the book but I remember most clearly the wo...I read the book but I remember most clearly the wonderful British series that I viewed many years ago on PBS. I did not find the characters at all uncompassionate. Perhaps it was seeing them experience emotion, as exceptional actors can portray, that made me feel that they felt a deep compassion for the great sorrows one another experienced and also made me feel great sorrow for each of them and for the emotional -- and spiritual -- pains they experienced. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-27616050966198039852018-01-29T07:28:01.749-05:002018-01-29T07:28:01.749-05:00Thanks for the recommendations. :-)Thanks for the recommendations. :-)Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-67013683888878443522018-01-28T21:02:46.080-05:002018-01-28T21:02:46.080-05:00Didn't mean to make you feel that way. :) If b...Didn't mean to make you feel that way. :) If by any chance you want to watch the adaptation before reading the book, I fervently recommend the British TV series (1981), which is a superb production and a real classic that's extremely faithful to the book; and the cast (Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews) is incomparable and a real pleasure to watch. Beware of the 2008 movie remake, which is something you should want to avoid at all costs. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-65649592352867201802018-01-28T16:50:00.728-05:002018-01-28T16:50:00.728-05:00Well, as I said, I haven't read the novel or s...Well, as I said, I haven't read the novel or seen the movie, nor do I know anything about Waugh's motivations in his writing. So I cannot speak any further as to this particular aspect. (I merely made this post because of it's connection to Chesterton's Father Brown stories) So I will have to leave the conversation. But perhaps someone else may later on see this post, and have more to contribute? Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-4877295943048450412018-01-28T14:36:02.474-05:002018-01-28T14:36:02.474-05:00Point well taken, and I'm also familiar with P...Point well taken, and I'm also familiar with Paul's argument as expressed in more than one of his epistles.<br /><br />The discussion here, however, in my opinion seems to have derived from the readers' sympathetic reaction to "a really shocking absence [in the novel] of that compassion which is so much a part of the Catholic spirit." Is this so because of the cold and stiff streak of an English aristocratic family as depicted in the novel? Perhaps. And that's also why the story is so helplessly tragic to an observer.<br /><br />The above-quoted commentary continues: "The religious writer requires at least four qualities of which Waugh [author of Brideshead Received] has so far displayed only one. Faith has has, but little compassion and no humility, and in his entire novel there is not a single convincing trace of love." ~ Spot on!<br /><br />(Quotes from http://journey-and-destination.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-twitch-upon-threadbrideshead.html?m=1)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-28054968729322912772018-01-28T09:53:35.190-05:002018-01-28T09:53:35.190-05:00As I still have not read the book, I am still unab...As I still have not read the book, I am still unable to comment on the story directly. But as to the larger point you raise, I can see in part why an author may choose to exaggerate the unsympathetic nature of his characters if that is the point he is trying to make, He may be trying to emphasize, by the great contrast, the utter benevolence of God's mercy and grace which none of us deserve. For if such characters can receive such mercy, how much more should we not fear to receive it? <br /><br />It reminds me of what St. Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy, who makes a similar point:<br /><br />"The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. <b>And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life."</b> (1 Timothy 1:15-16)Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-46960010867969092632018-01-28T04:09:54.064-05:002018-01-28T04:09:54.064-05:00I'm reading it, Brideshead Revisited, a deeply...I'm reading it, Brideshead Revisited, a deeply sad story. Sad, partially because the novel is "populated entirely by unsympathetic characters," as a previous comment remarked. Waugh's point may well be it, but do we have to be loveless - having no love for each other - to deserve God's mercy and grace?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-50513901242825016412018-01-28T04:05:38.525-05:002018-01-28T04:05:38.525-05:00I'm reading it, Brideshead Revisited, a deeply...I'm reading it, Brideshead Revisited, a deeply sad story. Sad, partially because the novel is "populated entirely by unsympathetic characters," as a previous comment remarked. Waugh's point may well be it, but do we have to be loveless - having no love for each other - to deserve God's mercy and grace?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-60860021578480986522017-08-12T23:34:12.738-04:002017-08-12T23:34:12.738-04:00Sadly, I still have not read it yet.... but it is ...Sadly, I still have not read it yet.... but it is a book I wish to read some day.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-71543115122054720082017-08-02T18:12:07.912-04:002017-08-02T18:12:07.912-04:00Did you ever read Brideshead? Populated entirely b...Did you ever read Brideshead? Populated entirely by unsympathetic characters, but I suppose that's the point. God's Mercy is all the more beautiful the more flawed we are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-15935527078543122772017-03-20T14:47:23.435-04:002017-03-20T14:47:23.435-04:00Very true.
(Now, I just need to read Brideshead R...Very true.<br /><br />(Now, I just need to read <i>Brideshead Revisited</i>...Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00108843791322871067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3314423604373130624.post-44202560368371096092017-03-20T01:53:45.502-04:002017-03-20T01:53:45.502-04:00A very profound quote. I remember how much it move...A very profound quote. I remember how much it moved me when I first read Brideshead Revisited.Robertohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14161553829988891992noreply@blogger.com