There is very little difference between the popular fantasy worlds of
Tolkein and Evelyn Waugh: Middle Earth has its Gandalf and Brideshead
has its Nanny; there is the questing Frodo Baggins in one story and the social climbing Charles Ryder in
the other; and the both have lots of fairies in them.
So I am surprised that there is no Brideshead Revisited board game that tweedy pipe-smokers (in all senses of the term) can play. A version of Dungeons and Dragons called Drawing Rooms and Oxford Dons. After all, Evelyn Waugh's creaky novel inspires the same sort of zealous devotion that The Lord of the Rings does. Readers love to pretend that they are like the characters in it; adopting their pithily mincing modes of speech, holding philistine opinions about modern art, eating plover eggs, drinking Brandy Alexanders and practicing a peculiarly hand-wringing brand of Catholicism. Brideshead Revisited is not a novel anymore, it has become a way of life. There has already been a famous televisual adaptation, so why no board game also? And why no action figures? Why no Boy Mulcaster lunch box? Someone is missing out on a very good commercial opportunity here. Why the dark, satanic gaming mills confine themselves to sci-fi fantasy grist is beyond me.
For a serious discussion about "worldbuilding" see here
Of course you are The Erewhonist par excellence, but I wondered if you had noticed a childish connection between Charles Ryder and Lord of the Rings? Lord of the RINGS. Geddit?
Posted by: Dr Maroon | September 10, 2007 at 09:43
Yes, but i'm not sure that "childish" is exactly the word you're looking for!!
Posted by: stephenesque | September 10, 2007 at 11:41