 First edition | |
| Author | Evelyn Waugh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Chapman and Hall |
Publication date | 1950 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Preceded by | The Loved One |
| Followed by | Love Among the Ruins. A Romance of the Near Future |
Helena, published in 1950, is the solehistorical novel ofEvelyn Waugh.
In the preface Waugh writes in part:
"The reader may reasonably inquire: how much is true? The Age ofConstantine is strangely obscure. Most of the dates and hard facts, confidently given in the encyclopedia, soften and dissolve on examination. The life of St. Helena begins and ends in surmise and legend. The story is just something to be read; in fact a legend."[1]
It follows the quest ofHelena of Constantinople to find therelics of the cross on whichChrist was crucified. Helena, a Christian, was the mother of the Roman emperorConstantine I.
The book has been described[citation needed] as lacking the characteristic bitingsatire for which Waugh is best known. However, the figure ofConstantius Chlorus, Constantine's father, was interpreted by friends of the novelist as a caricature ofField-MarshalBernard Montgomery, a man Waugh mocked as a vainglorious social climber. More generally, the corruption and instability of the Roman society Waugh describes is reminiscent of the malaise and pragmatism that prevails over tradition and chivalric ethics at the end of theSword of Honour trilogy. Helena's saintliness does not allow her to save her son from an imperial destiny she fears and disapproves of (at one point she fantasises about him becoming a provincial colonel); nor is she able to save her innocent grandsonCrispus from being murdered on Constantine's orders in a palace struggle.
The novel includes the tradition fromGeoffrey of Monmouth that Helena was a British princess, daughter ofKing Coel.
Waugh always describedHelena as his best work, but since his death it has received little critical attention.[citation needed]
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