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The Barchester Chronicles: The Warden; Barchester Towers
Dramatisation of Trollope's satirical tales of morality versus motivation set amongest the Victorian country clergy.
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First published January 1, 1857
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About the author
Anthony Trollope
2,361 books1,774 followersAnthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 16, 2020
Simple Victorian plot, yet deep insights into psychology and novel writing.
These Trollope novels offer a refreshing break from 240-character tweets about the sex molester Joe Biden or Democrats’ efforts to destroy the United States.
Anti-Catholic slurs aside (after all, this was written by a British Protestant), Trollope’s writing style is utterly refreshing. Granted, while the narrative follows a traditional Victorian story line of good characters eventually overcoming evil ones, there are significant alterations in that traditional scheme. For example, Mrs. Proudie, the wife of the Barchester bishop, is truly evil because of her arrogance in usurping the rights of her weak husband. In contrast, Signora Neroni, the disabled countess, is depicted as a vixen, yet it is her intercession and magnanimous final good deed which enables Eleanor and Mr. Arabin to marry.
Ah, love!
Another favorite character: Miss Thorne. How right she is that the youngins just can’t match their elders for grace and adherence to traditional values. However, I always liked starababa characters, like this kindhearted spinster in a Victorian novel designed for a reading public slowly falling away from its British traditions and Protestant Christian faith, yet too fearful of returning to Catholic Christianity.
What I enjoyed the most about the novels is Trollope’s commentary about the rules of novel writing. How often he breaks those rules! His iconoclasm makes great intertextual reading and can enhance contemporary students’ study of literary criticism.
In fact, why would any student merely read about literary criticism secondhand from literary critics, especially those “approved” by leftist professors, scouring the halls of academia for any signs of conservatism, like a CDC official testing people for the China virus or a Democratic governor sending his or her police minions to beaches in search of wayward youth having (gasp!) fun? Get ideas about novel writing from a novelist like Trollope directly.
Yes, Dickens’ Bleak House may read better (in the sense of more mellifluously), but, based on the underlining and double slash marks entered in the volume, this reader must have not only identified, but also approved of the opinions of a writer from a century and a half ago. In the traditional conflict between ancient vs. moderns, who compares with Trollope’s writing style?
Besides style, his fictional dissertation on church politics (remember: his concern about ecclesiastical politics involved the Protestant Church of England, but his conclusions apply to Catholic Church power politics today), the stifling decorum of Victorian manners which prevented men and women from expressing their love for each other (still valid, especially since some young people confuse sex with love and romance and think—stupidly—that virginity must be sacrificed to lust), and his ability to write deeply and correctly about what goes on in people’s minds (human psychology has not changed since The Warden’s 1855 publication or Barchester Towers’ 1857 publication) require the novel’s nearly 330,000 words as much as my summary requires the 120 words which constitute this sentence.
Try putting THAT into a 240-character tweet!
These Trollope novels offer a refreshing break from 240-character tweets about the sex molester Joe Biden or Democrats’ efforts to destroy the United States.
Anti-Catholic slurs aside (after all, this was written by a British Protestant), Trollope’s writing style is utterly refreshing. Granted, while the narrative follows a traditional Victorian story line of good characters eventually overcoming evil ones, there are significant alterations in that traditional scheme. For example, Mrs. Proudie, the wife of the Barchester bishop, is truly evil because of her arrogance in usurping the rights of her weak husband. In contrast, Signora Neroni, the disabled countess, is depicted as a vixen, yet it is her intercession and magnanimous final good deed which enables Eleanor and Mr. Arabin to marry.
Ah, love!
Another favorite character: Miss Thorne. How right she is that the youngins just can’t match their elders for grace and adherence to traditional values. However, I always liked starababa characters, like this kindhearted spinster in a Victorian novel designed for a reading public slowly falling away from its British traditions and Protestant Christian faith, yet too fearful of returning to Catholic Christianity.
What I enjoyed the most about the novels is Trollope’s commentary about the rules of novel writing. How often he breaks those rules! His iconoclasm makes great intertextual reading and can enhance contemporary students’ study of literary criticism.
In fact, why would any student merely read about literary criticism secondhand from literary critics, especially those “approved” by leftist professors, scouring the halls of academia for any signs of conservatism, like a CDC official testing people for the China virus or a Democratic governor sending his or her police minions to beaches in search of wayward youth having (gasp!) fun? Get ideas about novel writing from a novelist like Trollope directly.
Yes, Dickens’ Bleak House may read better (in the sense of more mellifluously), but, based on the underlining and double slash marks entered in the volume, this reader must have not only identified, but also approved of the opinions of a writer from a century and a half ago. In the traditional conflict between ancient vs. moderns, who compares with Trollope’s writing style?
Besides style, his fictional dissertation on church politics (remember: his concern about ecclesiastical politics involved the Protestant Church of England, but his conclusions apply to Catholic Church power politics today), the stifling decorum of Victorian manners which prevented men and women from expressing their love for each other (still valid, especially since some young people confuse sex with love and romance and think—stupidly—that virginity must be sacrificed to lust), and his ability to write deeply and correctly about what goes on in people’s minds (human psychology has not changed since The Warden’s 1855 publication or Barchester Towers’ 1857 publication) require the novel’s nearly 330,000 words as much as my summary requires the 120 words which constitute this sentence.
Try putting THAT into a 240-character tweet!
November 15, 2020
What an incredible series. I recently took an adult ed course in which we read The Warden and Barchester Towers. Without the guidance of our professor, much of the inside humor would have been lost. I am grateful to be led through these stories with their hilarious characters.
April 12, 2023
3.5 stars
January 18, 2025
So boring
December 22, 2016
Very enjoyable
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2012
I have had this in my pile for some time and the bulk of it (Barchester Towers) still needs to be read. The only other Trollope I have read, The Prime Minister, so impressed me that I vowed to read the chronicles. Trollope never ceases to amaze me in the fact that I find so much of life over 150 years ago can be applied to life today. I enjoy his mockery of people so much more than Stephen Leacock because, where Leacock seems to be unkind, Trollope is just shaking his head and saying,'what can you do, people will act that way'? His names are sometimes funny and his analysis of the Church of England very inciteful, if harsh and at the same time hillarious. I did find some of the descriptions overlong in this funny, sad, nasty, malicious, inciteful, thought-provoking tale in which, really, no one wins.
July 10, 2014
Trollope, a very popular English novelist in the Victorian Era, created the district of Barsetshire to depict the lives of Anglican clergymen and their families and acquaintances and the change to their closed society brought about by modernity. The Warden is the first of these six novels, Barchester Towers the second. They are easily readable and introduce you to believable characters in a natural setting. Very comfortable reads. Too bad Americans haven't been widely exposed to Trollope.
January 2, 2014
Reread this for the third time this summer. Ideal for anyone looking for more tongue-in-cheek treatment of English genteel society. Characters are similar to those one would find in an Austen novel, but narrator is much more sardonic, and there are some characters who are real gems (the "Signora").
August 21, 2015
My ninth Trollope novel, and maybe my favorite, but I think I say that every time. This one is certainly the funniest, and also fairly gentle, even in its villains.
Read
December 16, 2016 The list does not include the edition I read, which was just "Barchester Towers," but it may have been both volumes in one.
Skirmishes, politics, malice, and greed in small town English (Anglican) clergy. The book cover describes it as well as I could (this was a text in a college English major from many years ago): a masterpiece in the grand tradition of English comedy. If you don't think there's comedy in the inner circles of (19th century) Anglican clergy, this book will change your mind,
Skirmishes, politics, malice, and greed in small town English (Anglican) clergy. The book cover describes it as well as I could (this was a text in a college English major from many years ago): a masterpiece in the grand tradition of English comedy. If you don't think there's comedy in the inner circles of (19th century) Anglican clergy, this book will change your mind,
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews