Speaking of Waugh...

Let's talk about Helena

I do love this book, and I'm so proud it's a part of our series. Before our edition, it was one of the very few Waugh novels not in print in the US.

Helena, obviously, is the story of St. Helena, mother of Constantine and finder of the True Cross. It was one of Waugh's favorites of his own work, if not the favorite, although it wasn't terrifically reviewed at the time, especially in the US.

Side note - one of the more interesting parts of my job has been to dig up contemporary reviews of the novel in question (reminds me - got to get to the library for the next batch.) - it's not very hard. There's this thing called Book Review Digest which contains the citations for reviews of books, arranged in volumes chronologically. One of the things I've noticed, in finding reviews for these novels originally published from the 1920's through the 1960's is that nothing much has changed. The secular press has always been rather hostile to spiritual themes in literature, and unimpressed by writers who try to take on those themes seriously, without irony.

Anyway, back to Helena. The novel is pure Waugh - tight, direct, not a wasted word. He begins with Helena as a horse-mad girl, the daughter of a chieftan, who ends up, in the course of a few days, betrothed to Constantinius, who will, in time, become emperor.

Waugh gives us a Helena who is used and discarded by her husband, and who accepts her lot as the first, heir-producing wife who does her duty and then is packed away. Her defining characteristic is her intelligence, and more specifically, her search for truth - for defining, spiritual truth. What moves her, what drives her is the desire to put her faith in something true. Something real. If it didn't really happen, if it's just a story, why bother with it?

It's this question she asks of every religious fad and tradition that comes her way, from her own peoples' mythology, to Roman gods, to the mystery religions that fascinate her husband. None of them, of course, have anything to offer her, until she happens upon Christianity, whose Lord walked a specific patch of the world during a definite span of years, and who had friends and disciples who documented their experiences...you can see where this is going and how beautifully it clears a path for Helen's interest in the True Cross.

This is a lovely, and quite often very witty novel. Yes, these 4th century characters speak as if it's 1932 London, but why not? Helena's brush-off of mythmakers and charlatans are sharp and pointed, even when she's in Jerusalem and is being presented with all kinds of outlandish stories about the fate of the True Cross. The portrait of Constantine is of a rather confused opportunist. Helena's own conversion, is interestingly enough, never directly described. It happens off stage, as it were.

One of the things we're looking for in books to reprint in our series is the presence of questions that people still ask, and helpful answers as well. Written half a century ago, Helena fits the bill, because the question of truth and what, exactly is the basis of our faith, is one that we still ask. Some say that it all comes down to a "story" that means something to you, that "speaks to you," and that should be a good enough definition of truth for anyone. Helena confronts us with that assertion, and, more importantly, invites us to consider it, as human beings - is that really enough? - and as Christians - is that really all Christianity is? - and frames it in a simply marvelous story.