Barchester Towers is the second of the “Chronicles of Barsetshire” trilogy. It can be read as a stand-alone, although there are occasional references to previous characters, events and places.
Wikipedia, in all its wisdom, says that Barchester Towers, “among other things satirizes the then raging antipathy in the Church of England between High Church and Evangelical adherents.” The truth is that just by reading this I wouldn’t be too tempted by the book, and it would be my loss. As someone raised in a almost 100% roman catholic country, the inner workings of the Church of England, with all its branches, are still a mystery to me, no matter how many British classics I read. It was only during my bookclub’s discussion that I realize some subtleties of religious conflict in the book had escaped me completely.
The plot of Barchester Towers in general didn’t do much from me – sleepy cathedral town, old bishop dies, everyone expects his son to succeeds him but someone else gets the post, new and ambitious people arrive, rivalries ensue, some people fall in love, others try to get rich by marriage, lots of misunderstandings. It’s as much a comedy of errors as it is a comedy of manners, and most of it revolves around the fight for primacy in the diocese between the Bishop’s wife Mrs. Proudie and his chaplain, Mr. Slope. There’s also a somewhat meh romantic story in the background.
What did do it for me was the characterization, social commentary and the wonderful wit. Is there a “satire of manners” genre? If there is, Trollope is its King.
He manages to craft characters that have everything to become caricatures, but still feel like someone you’ve met before. There’s Mr. Slope’s shameless ambition and sleazy ways, Mrs. Proudie teeth-gritting bullying of her husband and, best of all, the Stanhope family. Dr. Stanhope, went to Italy to treat a “scratchy throat” and, after 12 years (!) of peacefully fishing on the shores of Lake Como, returns at the command of the new Bishop. One of his daughters is the “Signora Madelina Vesey Neroni” (née Madeline Stanhope) and her daughter, “the last of the Neros”.
Trollope should have written a whole book about the Signora. She’s escaping from an abusive marriage who left her crippled and even in England is carried around social occasions by a group of Italian men. She’s a great beauty, incredibly intelligent, and a cunning flirt who seems to be seeking revenge on Mankind by breaking the heart of every man she finds in her way:
Mrs. Proudie looked at the Signora as one of the lost. One of those beyond the reach of Christian charity, and was therefore able to enjoy the luxury of hating her without the drawback of eventually wishing her well out of her sins.
(Forgive me for absolutely loving this quote ;))
Trollope writes so wonderfully, so precisely. I’m really only sorry that the plot didn’t capture me more. Your enjoyment of the book will also depend on how much you can tolerate an interfering narrator, that talks to you and comments on what’s happening, like this:
And here the author must beg it to be remembered that Mr. Slope was not in all things a bad man. His motives, like those of most men, were mixed, and though his conduct was generally very different from that which we would wish to praise, it was actuated perhaps as often as that of the majority of the world by a desire to do his duty. He believed in the religion which he taught, harsh, unpalatable, uncharitable as that religion was.
And here again, is another delightful scene, where the meek Bishop decides to finally stand up to his domineering wife:
Now, Bishop, look well to thyself and call up all the manhood that is in thee. (…) Thou thyself hast sought the battle-field: fight out the battle manfully now thou art there. Courage, Bishop, courage! [encourages Trollope]
One of the most intense points of discussion during my bookclub was about why Trollope has become more forgotten (or isn’t as popular nowadays as) Austen, the Brontës or Hardy. His writing certainly deserves it, yet Barchester Towers, his most popular novel, only has 2.360 ratings on Goodreads, compared to Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ 49.219, Agnes Grey’s 8.101 and Northanger Abbey’s 63.332. We didn’t reach any conclusion, so I’d love to hear your views. Is it the lack of a convincing/passionate romance? Is it the focus on the Church of England issues that limits it?
Another recommendation: BBC’s adaptation, with Alan Rickman as Mr. Slope.
Barchester Towers and the full Chronicles of Barsetshire (The Warden and The Last Chronicle of Barchester) are available on Project Gutenberg.
This post was also published on Project Gutenberg Project.
14 comments
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June 11, 2012 at 10:49 am
Charlotte Reads Classics
I really enjoyed this review, I’ve been thinking about giving the series a try for a little while and I think you have encouraged me! Thanks 🙂
June 29, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Alex
I hear the 1st one is not the best, but it’s the shorter!
June 11, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Teresa
I love an interfering narrator. It’s one of the things I like best about Trollope.
You may be right that part of the reason Trollope is less widely read today is the focus on church politics, and on regular politics in some of this other books. Plus, his books are long and several of them are parts of series, so they don’t seem as accessible.
But I wonder if part of what’s going on with the Goodreads stats is that Trollope wrote so many books that his readers are spread out among lots more books. And I don’t think any single Trollope book stands out as the one every Trollope lover reads.
June 29, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Alex
Good point about church and politics. I do think it’s most that that makes it dated, because I think Austen and Dickens’ novels also have a spread-out fans base and some Hardy are hardly read at all.
June 11, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Amateur Reader (Tom)
Everything Teresa said seems right to me.
One more piece of the puzzle is that Trollope did damage to his reputation with his misunderstood posthumous Autobiography. He is actually probably read more in the last 40 years than in, say, the middle of the 20th century. The BBC adaptations have surely helped, too.
Have you read Vanity Fair? The role of the Trollope narrator became much clearer to me once I saw how it was modeled on the Thackeray narrator. Or, to come at the problem from another direction, does narrator Trollope “interfere” more than Saramago or Humbert Humbert?
June 29, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Alex
I didn’t know about his Autobiograph, but will definitely do a little search on it.
I read a really REALLY loved Vanity Fair, but, strangely, the narrator there didn’t disturb as much as this one did. The same for Saramago or Humbert Humbert, which is also interesting.
June 11, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Patty
I have to agree with you on a not so interesting plot, and even go a bit further – the petty politics of the church were as much a nuisance then as they are now… I have to admit I had a difficult time finishing this novel, and it definitely halted me from reading any more Trollope (for the time being, at least)
June 29, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Alex
I wish I was on the other bookclub group as well, because I’d like to hear what the hard-core Trollope fans had to say. You need to give me a short summary next time we meet.
June 11, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Alex
I love this series, but enjoyed his other six novel sequence, ‘The Pallisers’ even more. Do you know it?
June 29, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Alex
Hi other Alex 🙂 The Pallisers seems to be a general favorite and I’ll give it a go before deciding that I have what I need to have from Trollope.
June 15, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Zeba Clarke
I’m a Trollope lover, but I think his narrative voice might be an acquired taste and that is what holds him back. I think the length of the books also frightens people. I fell in love with them years ago when I was commuting and I had a good chunk of reading time on trains for about a year. By the end of the year, I’d read the Barchesters and was getting into the Palliser series, and then I started knocking off the single titles.
In addition, I think there is a touch of melancholy which puts people off, because his good characters don’t always end up on top and his bad characters sometimes manage to thrive. Personally, I like that but sometimes, it can be unsatisfactory.
My favourite is Is He Popenjoy? which is an inheritance story with some corking set pieces and pretty high stakes.
June 29, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Alex
You’re right about the melancholy and justice. I do feel that Mrs. Proudie needed to eat a big piece of humility cake, to be able to think the ending perfect.
June 28, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Falaise
You have shamed me again, Alex. This book has been on my TBR for years now and I really need to get into it. I enjoyed the Warden but I find his style gets too much for me after a while and so the length of the books starts to put me off.
June 29, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Alex
MUAHaHa! I think it might just be right up your alley!