"In This House of Brede"

[qos]

After putting aside Pride and Prejudice with a sigh of resignation, I picked up In This House of Brede

Interestingly enough, both books focus on societies of women far removed from my own life. But where P&P unfolds in parlors and ballrooms and the occasional meadow path, the "House of Brede" is a convent in England in the late 1960's. I enjoyed the book very much, immersing myself eagerly in the stories of women who withdraw from the world in order to cultivate their souls -- but still remaining very human and falliable.

Neither book goes very deep into the minds and hearts of its characters, but each does a good job of illustrating character through scenes. Brede covers six or seven twelve to fifteen years, but does so by skipping forward through time, focusing on the occasional important incident or series of events, but keeping those events firmly embedded in the ongoing cycle of the religious hours and calendar.

There is sometimes a tendency to contrast Christians and Pagans by saying that Christians are focused on linear time (from Creation through Apocalypse) while Pagans experience cyclical time: the round of the seasons and the creation/growth/destruction/fallow time of each year. But the nuns of Brede live in cyclical time: each day following the same progression of the Hours, each year unfolding along the path of festivals and observances of the holy seasons.

The worlds of Elizabeth Bennett and Sister Philippa are both extremely limited -- but Philippa chooses that restriction, where Elizabeth is like a fish in water. There is quite a bit about a nun's life that I would not like. . . but if I was told I had to inhabit one world or the other, I'd strongly consider the abbey. There, at least, the women are focused on cultivating mind as well as spirit. However, in Elizabeth's world, I might want to throw up my hands at the silliness of society, but I'd be free to go my own way in private, or perhaps to be known as a bit eccentric, but still have somewhat more freedom than in the abbey.

I think I would have enjoyed this book in any case, but it was particularly interesting coming as it did after my foray into Pride and Prejudice.



ETA: Thanks to bodhibird for the correction on the duration of the story in Brede.

Comments

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

Brede is not a very linear novel, and if you re-read and rummage around in it, I think you'll find it covers a much longer span of time than you thought. Philippa enters religious life in 1955 and leaves England sometime after the end of Vatican II, which Wikipedia tells me closed in 1965; my guess is that it's more like twelve to fifteen years, rather than five or six. I'm really glad you enjoyed it; I think Philippa is not all that far from where you are right now.

[qos.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right about the span of time. I don't know how I managed to get mixed up about that!

Would you mind elaborating on your comparison of Philippa and me? I certainly see some similarities, but I'm curious as to what you perceive.

You and Philippa

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

Just that Philippa leaves a very rewarding career, with the promise of further advancement, for a life completely devoted to spiritual practice, and that you likewise have found spiritual practice rather than career to be the center of your life, as you noted in an earlier entry. You are also both very independent and intellectual women.

Re: You and Philippa

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :-)