Waugh’s Commentary on Helena

To understand this novel better, it is helpful to examine Waugh ’s commentary explaining his intention when writing Helena, and on the situation he was in when he wrote it. W hen Helena was broadcast by the BBC as a radio drama in December 1951, Waugh himself announced on the radio what his intention had been in writing this novel. Waugh, above all, bemoans the trend for producing many fictions that mainl y draw upon readers’ s ympathy, and that in fact those fictions are received positivel y by people:

It is said that great popularit y in fiction and film is onl y attained by works into which readers and audience can transpose

themselves and be vicariousl y endangered, loved, and ap plauded.

This kind of reverie is not meditation, even when its objects are worthy of high devotion. (EAR 407)

His opinion, that fictions are not merel y for vicarious satisfaction of

readers, is true for his view on a hagiography, too. In his essay, “St. Helena Empress,” Waugh writes as follows:

We can invoke the help of the saints and study the workings of God in them, but if we delude ourselves that we are walking in their shoes, seeing through their eyes and thinking with their

minds, we lose sight of t he one certain course of our salvation.

(EAR 407)

Moreover, he continues that people should rather pay attention to “the saints who are remembered for a single act ” (EAR 407), like Helena. This means that people should follow obscure saints intentl y, avoiding the foll y of identifying themselves with famous saints. Thus, Waugh ’s intention becomes clear. He thinks it is worthy that we have little official

information about Helena, because this prevents us from empathising with her too easil y and encourages deeper introspection.

Waugh’s intention like this relates to the reason why Helena ’s conversion is kept obscure. The characteristic aspect of Helena as a religious novel, or a hagiography, is that it never clarifies the details of how Helena becomes a Catholic. Waugh writes that she converted to Catholicism in an utterl y ordinary wa y i n her middle -age:

None knows when or where. No record was made. Nothing was built or foun ded. There was no public holiday. Privatel y and humbl y, like thousands of others, she[Helena] stepped down into the font and emerged a new woman. . . . Did she merel y conform to the prevailing fashion, lie open unresisting Divine Grace and so without design become its brimming vehicle? (89 -90)

As an answer for the question in the above quotation, it will be conjectured that the purpose of Helena’s story is not her conversion but her quest for the Cross, and, furthermore, the very fact that Helena discovere d the Cross.

Those who make a remarkable achievement do not have to have a loft y spirit from the beginning. They just show their spirit by the process of their activities. The ambiguit y of Helena ’s conversion can be interpreted like that. The uncertainty of the details of Helena ’s conversion deters readers from understanding it frivolousl y. Moreover, the images of the twentieth century that re-occur in the novel allow readers to reexperience the

memories of the Se cond World War, which were still vivid for people at that time. In this way, Waugh consciousl y urges readers to reflect on the past themselves.

Waugh comments eagerl y on the main subject, Helena ’s quest for the Cross. In the essay quoted above, Waugh indic ates that Helena ’s quest for the Cross is the most fundamental element in support of Christian dogma.

For more than 2,000 years, many things have been discussed, sometimes changed, and even diminished: Uncertainties including the priesthood, the sacramental system, standards of living, and the study of Christianit y itself (EAR 410). But the most basic principle for maintaining Christianit y,

according to Waugh, is “the unreasonable assertion that God became man and died on the Cross; not a m yth or an allegor y; true God, trul y incarnate, tortured to death at a particular moment in time, at a particular

geographical place, as a matter of plain historical fact ” (EAR 410). Helena tried to show this belief “as a matter of plain historical fact ” (EAR 410) to a world which was confused, both religiousl y and militaril y, in the fourth century.

Waugh concludes his commentary with his strong belief in a

vocation: “He [God] wants a different thing from each of us, . . . something which onl y we can do and for which we wer e each created ” (EAR 410).

Waugh’s intimate friend and mentor, Father Martin D ’Arcy, attested that

“his [Waugh’s] own personal thesis was best put forth in it: that God put man on this earth to do a special task ” (Patey 296). Given this remark, Waugh’s proud statement that Helena was his best novel would not be an exaggeration by any means.

In Brideshead Revisited, Waugh writes the process of a British man ’s conversion to Catholicism. In Helena, moreover, Waugh focuses on what the protagonist, a famed Catho lic, accomplishes with her heart and soul.

Helena’s quest for the half -imaginary Cross in Jerusalem reminds readers of the adventure of Tony Last, the protagonist of Waugh ’s earl y novel, A

Handful of Dust (1934), who tries to discover the Hol y Cit y along t he Amazon. However, in contrast with the failure of Tony, who is a modern Englishman far from faith, Helena, amazingl y, succeeds in her quest. Thus, Helena represents Waugh ’s mental development of a theme which is carried on from his earlier novels.

Waugh expects readers’ introspection, not their sympathy with his characters. That is his utmost intention in writing Helena. Also, it shows why he uses the images of the twentieth century in Helena, trying to make readers think themselves and better understand this novel. As the basic material of a hagiography written for English people who suffered through the Second World War, Waugh chooses the memories of war and Fascism, not fantasy and spectacle.