Somehow in the course of my more than three decade reading career I had never happened to read anything by Trollope, the favorite Victorian novelist of mildly sardonic middle-aged men throughout the English-speaking world, until now. Of these first two entries in the Barsetshire series, the IWE introduction states that "together they are considered the best work Trollope did." Conventional wisdom seems to further consider Barchester Towers to be the superior of the two, and it is more than twice as long and has naturally many of the same agreeable qualities as its predecessor. However I found that it ran out of steam somewhat in the last one hundred pages, something Trollope himself took two pages out of the narrative to lament at the beginning of Chapter LI:
"These leave-takings in novels are as disagreeable as they are in real life...Promises of two children and superhuman happiness are of no avail, nor assurance of extreme respectability carried to an age far exceeding that usually allotted to mortals...Do I not myself know that I am at this moment in want of a dozen pages, and that I am sick with cudgeling my brains to find them?"
The Warden, in contrast, coming in at just under 200 pages, struck me as a nearly perfectly executed novel. It is humorous and has numerous contrasting and interesting characters, an unusual plot full of constant unexpected twists and ironic turns right up to the very last page. Barchester Towers continues in the same vein for at least its first half, after which it falters somewhat in inventiveness and energy, and becomes on the whole a much more conventional book.
The IWE somewhat oddly singled out Mr. Harding, the 'warden' of the first volume, as "an excellent creation." While a more prominent and rounded character in The Warden than it its sequel, this character's role is really that of the ordinary retiring sort of man who wants to be comfortable and avoid conflict in his life contrasted against a gallery of much more strident and combative personalities. The imperious Dr. Grantly was my personal favorite character, and numerous of the other personages with highly developed egos possessed qualities that contributed to the general merriment of the books (as will be seen in the extensive excerpts below) in a way that Mr. Harding did not.
From the introduction to the Modern Library edition, written by A. Edward Newton of 501 N 19th Street in Philadelphia, the founder of the Trollope Society, on March 1, 1936:
"Men of my age do not laugh much or heartily...they have seen and known too much of the world."
I cannot find now, if it is to be found, the exact age of Mr. A. Edward Newton when he wrote this essay. He does not appear to be less than fifty years of age at least, however. As noted elsewhere the claim made in the quote above is not infrequent among Trollope's contemporary admirers. I myself do not laugh so much, though comparatively I have not seen so much of the world, and seem to know even less. I still like the books, however.
The Warden, Chap. III:
"The bishop did not whistle: we believe that they lose the power of doing so on being consecrated; and that in these days one might as easily meet a corrupt judge as a whistling bishop..."
Chap. V
"Many a man can fight his battle with good courage, but with a doubting conscience. Such was not the case with Dr. Grantly. He did not believe in the Gospel with more assurance than he did in the sacred justice of all ecclesiastical revenues."
Examples of the strain of humor to be found throughout this book.
Chap. VI
"...and Mrs. Goodenough, the red-faced rector's wife, pressing the warden's hand, declared she had never enjoyed herself better; which showed how little pleasure she allowed herself in this world, as she had sat the whole evening through in the same chair without occupation, not speaking, and unspoken to."
Chap. VII
"They say that faint heart never won fair lady; and it is amazing to me how fair ladies are won, so faint are often men's hearts!"
This is England (a romantic country).
Article in the influential newspaper The Jupiter:
"We must express an opinion that nowhere but in the Church of England, and only there among its priests, could such a state of moral indifference be found."
This prompted me to note at this point that "This book is too funny."
Chap. XVIII
"A clergyman generally dislikes to be met in argument by any scriptural quotation; he feels as affronted as a doctor does, when recommended by an old woman to take some favourite dose, or as a lawyer when an unprofessional man attempts to put him down by a quibble."
Mr. Popular Sentiment is a pretty good spoof on Dickens.
Chap. XIX
"If you owe me nothing', and the archdeacon looked as though he thought a great deal were due to him, 'at least you owe so much to my father."
Chap. XX
"And here we must take leave of Archdeacon Grantly. We fear that he is represented in these pages as being worse than he is; but we have had to do with his foibles, and not with his virtues."
Now into the Barchester Towers Chapter II:
"Some few years since, even within the memory of many who are not yet willing to call themselves old, a liberal clergymen was a person not frequently to be met. Sydney Smith was such, and was looked on as little better than an infidel."
Chap. III
"Mrs. Proudie determined that her husband's equipage should not shame her, and things on which Mrs. Proudie resolved, were generally accomplished."
"It is not my intention to breathe a word against the character of Mrs. Proudie, but still I cannot think that with all her virtues she adds much to her husband's happiness...All hope of defending himself has passed from him; indeed he rarely even attempts self-justification; and is aware that submission produces the nearest approach to peace which his own house can ever attain."
Chap. VI
"There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on mankind in civilised and free countries, than the necessity of listening to sermons...Let a professor of law or physic find his place in a lecture-room and there pour forth jejune words and useless empty phrases and he will pour them forth to empty benches...A member of Parliament can be coughed down or counted out...But no one can rid himself of the preaching clergyman."
Chap. VII
"Doubting himself was Mr. Harding's weakness. It is not, however, the usual fault of his order."
All of these snippets are things I laughed at within the context of the story. I found this book entertaining and a welcome addition to the universe of the Victorian English novel such as it is constructed in my mind, but I do not have very much to say about it.
"Among these Mr. Quiverful, the rector of Puddingdale, whose wife still continued to present him from year to year with fresh pledges of her love, and so to increase his cares and, it is to be hoped, his happiness equally."
Mr. Quiverful had fourteen children. He belonged to that category of men who was overwhelmed by the results of his fecundity rather than a forceful director of it.
Chap. IX
"The Stanhopes would visit you in your sickness (provided it were not contagious), would bring you oranges, French novels, and the last new bit of scandal, and then hear of your death or your recovery with an equally indifferent composure."
I sometimes wonder whether my own children aren't going the way of the Stanhopes in some areas.
Chap. X
"He felt that if he intended to disapprove, it must be now or never; but he also felt that it could not be now."
Chap. XI
"German professors!' groaned out the chancellor, as though his nervous system had received a shock which nothing but a week of Oxford air could cure."
"I was a Jew once myself', began Bertie."
I laughed for five minutes at this line.
Chap. XIII Too fitting for me to let pass by.
"A man is sufficiently condemned if it can only be shown that either in politics or religion he does not belong to some new school established within the last score of years. He may then regard himself as rubbish and expect to be carted away. A man is nothing now unless he has within him a full appreciation of the new era; an era in which it would seem that neither honesty nor truth is very desirable, but in which success is the only touchstone of merit. We must laugh at everything that is established."
"It is very easy to talk of repentance; but a man has to walk over hot ploughshares before he can complete it; to be skinned alive as was St. Bartholomew; to be stuck full of arrows as was St. Sebastian; to lie broiling on a gridiron like St. Lorenzo!"
Chap XIV This is my favorite passage/quote in the whole book.
"Mr. Harding did not like being called lily-livered, and was rather inclined to resent it. 'I doubt there is any true courage,' said he, 'in squabbling for money." "If honest men did not squabble for money, in this wicked world of ours, the dishonest men would get it all; and I do not see that the cause of virtue would be much improved."
Chap. XIX
"They habitually looked on the sunny side of the wall, if there was a gleam on either side for them to look at; and, if there was none, they endured the shade with an indifference which, if not stoical, answered the end at which the Stoics aimed."
Chap. XXX (trying to move things along a little)
"How easily would she have forgiven and forgotten the archdeacon's suspicions had she but heard the whole truth from Mr. Arabin. But then where would have been my novel?"
Chap. XXXIII
"In truth, Mrs. Proudie was all but invincible; had she married Petruchio, it may be doubted whether that arch wife-tamer would have been able to keep her legs out of those garments which are presumed by men to be peculiarly unfitted for feminine use."
Chap. XXXV
"The quality, as the upper classes in rural districts are designated by the lower with so much true discrimination, were to eat a breakfast, and the non-quality were to eat a dinner...a subsidiary board was to be spread sub dio for the accommodation of the lower class of yokels..."
Chap. XXXVII
"Wise people, when they are in the wrong, always put themselves right by finding fault with the people against whom they have sinned. Lady De Courcy was a wise woman; and therefore, having treated Miss Thorne very badly by staying away till three o'clock, she assumed the offensive and attacked Mr. Thorne's roads."
Chap. XLIII
"People when they get their income doubled usually think that those through whose instrumentality this little ceremony is performed are right at bottom."
All right, that is enough. Thanks for the memories, Trollope. You don't appear again on the IWE list and the GRE test book seems to ignore you altogether, so it is possible our paths will never cross again, though I hope that by some mechanism they shall.
The Bourgeois Surrender Challenge
Some very weird entries in this Challenge.
1. Jennifer Nielsen--A Night Divided...........................................................245
2. Daniel Pool--What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew............163
3. Robert Gates--A Passion For Leadership................................................136
4. F. Scott Fitzgerald--Short Stories...............................................................68
5. Fyodor Dostoevsky--The Possessed...........................................................56
6. Anthony Trollope--The Last Chronicle of Dorset......................................39
7. Eugene Pogany--In My Brother's Image....................................................30
8. Mary Elizabeth Braddon--Run to Earth......................................................14
9. Will Self--Shark..........................................................................................11
10. The Whole Family: A Novel by Twelve Authors.........................................7
11. Ireland & the British Empire (ed. Kenny)..................................................2
12. The Trollope Critics (ed. Hall)....................................................................1
13. Dr Heinrich Graetze--Influence of Judaism on the Protestant Reformation.0
14. Walter Besant--London...............................................................................0
15. James Peebles--Compulsory Vaccination: A Menace to Personal Liberty..0
16. John Keefe--Exploring Careers in the Sun Belt...........................................0
17. R. D. McMaster--Trollope & the Law..........................................................0
18. Harold Bloom--The Victorian Novel............................................................0
Qualifying Round
#18 Bloom over #15 Peebles
The Peebles book, though doubtless spectacular, is not in wide circulation.
#16 Keefe over #17 McMaster
The unavailability of either book and the lackluster interest I have in McMaster's subject matter allows the higher seed to advance here. \
Round of 16
#1 Nielsen over #18 Bloom
Nielsen is a children's book about the Berlin Wall. I changed my mind after initially giving Bloom a close victory.
#2 Pool over #16 Keefe
#3 Gates over #14 Besant
No library representation for Besant.
#4 Fitzgerald over #13 Graetze
#5 Dostoevsky over #12 The Trollope Critics
#6 Trollope over #11 Ireland and the British Empire
#7 Pogany over #10 The Whole Family
#9 Self over #8 Braddon
Final 8
#9 Self over #1 Nielsen
#2 Pool over #7 Pogany
Pogany is a lot shorter, but it isn't available at my library and it's a Holocaust-themed book. I wimped out on it at the last minute.
#6 Trollope over #3 Gates
#4 Fitzgerald over #5 Dostoevsky
My particular mood at the time of the match, nothing more. Fitzgerald has appeared several times in the tournament without winning.
Final 4
#9 Self over #2 Pool
While the Pool deserves a run, it doesn't deserve a run all the way to the final.
#4 Fitzgerald over #6 Trollope
I didn't want to read the 6th and final book of the Barsetshire Chronicles without having read #s 3, 4 and 5 if I can help it.
Championship
#9 Self over #4 Fitzgerald
Self is a contemporary writer of some repute. A specific edition of Fitzgerald's stories was not denoted for the competition, a complete collection runs upwards of 700 pages, and I often have occasion to read some of his stories in my other systems, so I am going to give the Self book a try.
No comments:
Post a Comment