What do you think?
Rate this book
The American Senator
Arabella Trefoil, the beautiful anti-heroine of this novel, inspired Trollope to write of her, "I wished to express the depth of my scorn for women who run down husbands." Arabella's determination to find a rich husband is at the heart of this story and her character, though often maligned, is one of Trollope's most famous and vivid creations.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
566 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1877
105 people are currently reading
1251 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Trollope
2,291 books1,760 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_...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
October 14, 2019
This is a fantastic read - really well written, really engaging, with fantastic characterisation and such great plotlines. I'd highly recommend it.
June 5, 2020
I'm so glad to have been back reading Trollope. This novel has three plot lines: the American Senator of the title, Arabella Trefoil and her husband-chasing, and Larry Twentyman who wishes Mary Masters to be his wife. It is the rare Trollope novel that doesn't have at least one fox-hunting scene or chapter. There are multiple such scenes in this.
I'll take care of the Senator first. I was irritated that an American would be so obnoxious as to go to another country and tell them how wrong they were to run their country in their own way. It wasn't the politics or the form of government he was criticizing, but other long-standing customs such as primogeniture and the way of choosing rectors in particular, but also including the way that fox-hunting itself tramples on the rights of minor property holders. And then I sort of laughed at myself. Oh Elizabeth, this wasn't an American, this was Trollope pointing fingers at his own country. Just because it was easier for him to use an American didn't mean it wasn't he pointing fingers. (Still, I was annoyed.)
The GR description gives us only the character of Arabella Trefoil. It would have you think it is at the heart of the story and that she "is one of Trollope's most famous and vivid creations." I think this latter is an slight exaggeration. Famous, undoubtedly not, but vivid perhaps. Until writing this, I did not try to picture Arabella, but now that I think of it, I could see Elizabeth Taylor or perhaps Vivien Leigh in the part. But Arabella is not the terrible schemer as is her mother who has schooled her daughter in the finer points of catching the richest husband available.
And now to good, honest, upstanding Larry Twentyman. He is not a gentleman, but stands head and shoulders at the top of the yeoman class. He has everything to offer Mary Masters, daughter of the local attorney, including his undying love. She cares for him, but more like a brother than as a husband. She has refused him. She has a pushy step-mother who is almost as bad as Arabella's mother. In fact, there are two chapters titled "Persecution" and oh my, Mrs. Masters did not hold back her venom and attacks when it was known that Mary had refused Larry.
Even though I rate this 4-stars, I think this is probably only for those who want to read more deeply than Trollope's two series, and perhaps not even immediately after those.
I'll take care of the Senator first. I was irritated that an American would be so obnoxious as to go to another country and tell them how wrong they were to run their country in their own way. It wasn't the politics or the form of government he was criticizing, but other long-standing customs such as primogeniture and the way of choosing rectors in particular, but also including the way that fox-hunting itself tramples on the rights of minor property holders. And then I sort of laughed at myself. Oh Elizabeth, this wasn't an American, this was Trollope pointing fingers at his own country. Just because it was easier for him to use an American didn't mean it wasn't he pointing fingers. (Still, I was annoyed.)
The GR description gives us only the character of Arabella Trefoil. It would have you think it is at the heart of the story and that she "is one of Trollope's most famous and vivid creations." I think this latter is an slight exaggeration. Famous, undoubtedly not, but vivid perhaps. Until writing this, I did not try to picture Arabella, but now that I think of it, I could see Elizabeth Taylor or perhaps Vivien Leigh in the part. But Arabella is not the terrible schemer as is her mother who has schooled her daughter in the finer points of catching the richest husband available.
And now to good, honest, upstanding Larry Twentyman. He is not a gentleman, but stands head and shoulders at the top of the yeoman class. He has everything to offer Mary Masters, daughter of the local attorney, including his undying love. She cares for him, but more like a brother than as a husband. She has refused him. She has a pushy step-mother who is almost as bad as Arabella's mother. In fact, there are two chapters titled "Persecution" and oh my, Mrs. Masters did not hold back her venom and attacks when it was known that Mary had refused Larry.
Even though I rate this 4-stars, I think this is probably only for those who want to read more deeply than Trollope's two series, and perhaps not even immediately after those.
February 3, 2020
Once again I have been unable to contain myself and have rushed ahead to the end of The American Senator ahead of the schedule of my online Trollope group. And it’s not like I just HAD to know how it ended. I’ve read it at least twice before.
This is not Trollope at his best. Or rather, it’s at his best and at his weakest. The character of Arabella Trefoil is one of his most complex and sensitive. Arabella is penniless but a great beauty with hopes of a brilliant marriage. However, she has waited too long, refused too many men who weren’t quite rich enough, or didn’t have quite as high a position in society as she wanted. She is now 30 years old, which is very old indeed in late 19th century terms, and she is still struggling to catch the perfect man. This despite the fact that she is engaged to be married to a diplomat, John Morton. He has a country house, quite a bit of money, and a respected position, and he is a good man and loves her. But Arabella is looking beyond him to Lord Rufford who has a larger house, more money, and a title.
Like so many women of her day, Arabella must find a husband. She is fit for no employment and has no other choice than to sell herself to the highest bidder. Will Lord Rufford bid? Will she be able to keep Mr Morton on a string until she has played out her game with Lord Rufford?
Arabella’s story is a sub-plot. The heroine of the novel is Mary Masters, one of Trollope’s sweet and lovely girls, who has been raised by Lady Ushant, whose nephew, Reginald Morton (cousin to John) she has fallen in love with. She is being courted by one of my favorite Trollope characters, yeoman Larry Twentyman. Her step-mother makes her life miserable when Mary refuses Larry. The parallels between these two women and their difficulties deciding which man to marry are explained unusually well in the Wikipedia entry for The American Senator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amer...
The senator? The role of the title character is muddled, with some episodes almost laugh-out-loud funny as he gets himself into difficulties criticizing English practices such as rotten boroughs, purchased church livings, and undue deference to nobility. Trollope takes the opportunity to poke fun at Americans, though the narrator’s unspoken criticisms are no more unreasonable than the senator’s.
Near the end of the book the story bogs down in unnecessary repetition and when one arrives at the two chapters devoted to the senator’s speech delivering his opinions to the English public the reader’s eyes glass over.
Nonetheless, this is a fine novel, as almost all of Trollope’s are, and in Arabella we have one of his most interesting and ultimately sympathetic characters.
2011 No 109
This is not Trollope at his best. Or rather, it’s at his best and at his weakest. The character of Arabella Trefoil is one of his most complex and sensitive. Arabella is penniless but a great beauty with hopes of a brilliant marriage. However, she has waited too long, refused too many men who weren’t quite rich enough, or didn’t have quite as high a position in society as she wanted. She is now 30 years old, which is very old indeed in late 19th century terms, and she is still struggling to catch the perfect man. This despite the fact that she is engaged to be married to a diplomat, John Morton. He has a country house, quite a bit of money, and a respected position, and he is a good man and loves her. But Arabella is looking beyond him to Lord Rufford who has a larger house, more money, and a title.
Like so many women of her day, Arabella must find a husband. She is fit for no employment and has no other choice than to sell herself to the highest bidder. Will Lord Rufford bid? Will she be able to keep Mr Morton on a string until she has played out her game with Lord Rufford?
Arabella’s story is a sub-plot. The heroine of the novel is Mary Masters, one of Trollope’s sweet and lovely girls, who has been raised by Lady Ushant, whose nephew, Reginald Morton (cousin to John) she has fallen in love with. She is being courted by one of my favorite Trollope characters, yeoman Larry Twentyman. Her step-mother makes her life miserable when Mary refuses Larry. The parallels between these two women and their difficulties deciding which man to marry are explained unusually well in the Wikipedia entry for The American Senator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amer...
The senator? The role of the title character is muddled, with some episodes almost laugh-out-loud funny as he gets himself into difficulties criticizing English practices such as rotten boroughs, purchased church livings, and undue deference to nobility. Trollope takes the opportunity to poke fun at Americans, though the narrator’s unspoken criticisms are no more unreasonable than the senator’s.
Near the end of the book the story bogs down in unnecessary repetition and when one arrives at the two chapters devoted to the senator’s speech delivering his opinions to the English public the reader’s eyes glass over.
Nonetheless, this is a fine novel, as almost all of Trollope’s are, and in Arabella we have one of his most interesting and ultimately sympathetic characters.
2011 No 109
Read
January 16, 2022I tend to think of Trollope as one of the most conservative of Victorian writers and a novel where fox hunting is central to the development of the narrative may be a particular case in point. Much of the plot concerns the unfavourable depictions of the titular American Senator's observations of English society, particular his criticism of how the English aristocracy are able to literally ride roughshod over the land of their neighbours when hunting: "The fact is, Mr. Morton, that the spirit of conservatism in this country is so strong that you cannot bear to part with a shred of the barbarism of the middle ages. .. You can do many things that your mother and grandmother couldn't do; but absolute freedom,—what you may call universal suffrage,—hasn't come yet, I fear."
In practice, Trollope goes to great lengths to suggest that the man the Senator is defending against a charge of fox poisoning is a rogue and that the Senator's view of English society is accordingly profoundly mistaken, with his criticism of the exclusion of much of the population from the franchise implied to be in the same vein. By the end of the novel, Trollope finds the Senator "when we last heard of him was thundering in the Senate against certain practices on the part of his own country which he thought to be unjust to other nations. Don Quixote was not more just than the Senator, or more philanthropic,—nor perhaps more apt to wage war against the windmills." It's a view that might have seemed eminently reasonably at a point when England had been stable and prosperous for generations while the United States had only narrowly survived a civil way a decade earlier.
The rest of the novel concerns two parallel plots. As is often the case in Trollope, they both tend in opposing directions. In one, Mary Masters is able to marry into the aristocracy through her unassuming and self-sacrificing nature. In another, Arabella Trefoil's schemes to marry a rich husband mark her as an adventuress and all her devices come to nothing. What is perhaps particularly interesting about this is that Arabella perhaps particularly resembles male characters in some of Trollope's other novels, with her pursuit of wealth being particularly wrong-footed because of her sex. One of the other characters describes her thus: "But it was the look of age, and the almost masculine strength of the lower face."
In practice, Trollope goes to great lengths to suggest that the man the Senator is defending against a charge of fox poisoning is a rogue and that the Senator's view of English society is accordingly profoundly mistaken, with his criticism of the exclusion of much of the population from the franchise implied to be in the same vein. By the end of the novel, Trollope finds the Senator "when we last heard of him was thundering in the Senate against certain practices on the part of his own country which he thought to be unjust to other nations. Don Quixote was not more just than the Senator, or more philanthropic,—nor perhaps more apt to wage war against the windmills." It's a view that might have seemed eminently reasonably at a point when England had been stable and prosperous for generations while the United States had only narrowly survived a civil way a decade earlier.
The rest of the novel concerns two parallel plots. As is often the case in Trollope, they both tend in opposing directions. In one, Mary Masters is able to marry into the aristocracy through her unassuming and self-sacrificing nature. In another, Arabella Trefoil's schemes to marry a rich husband mark her as an adventuress and all her devices come to nothing. What is perhaps particularly interesting about this is that Arabella perhaps particularly resembles male characters in some of Trollope's other novels, with her pursuit of wealth being particularly wrong-footed because of her sex. One of the other characters describes her thus: "But it was the look of age, and the almost masculine strength of the lower face."
May 27, 2019
I read Trollope’s The American Senator immediately after a memorable experience with The Way We Live Now, which many see as Trollope’s masterpiece. The two books aren’t in the same league at all, although The American Senator was still a pleasant enough read.
The title is misleading, in that the American senator of the title, on an extended visit to England, is a minor character and his plot is not particularly well integrated. This is essentially a country house / small-town English life piece, with a couple of love triangles thrown in (as well as an inordinate amount of lovingly detailed discussions and narrative accounts of fox hunting—be warned! This seems an occupational hazard with Trollope.)
The more “serious” of the two love plots, involving an attorney’s daughter, Mary Masters, deliberating between a smitten young gentleman farmer, Lawrence Twentyman, and a more distant, squirearchal object of desire, Reginald Morton, left me pretty much cold; in fact, the snobbishness that seemed to underpin Mary’s preference for the uncharismatic Morton, I found distinctly offputting. (As perhaps, at some level, did Trollope; he gives Twentyman a more interesting character than Morton as a kind of consolation prize.)
The less serious of the two love plots was far more entertaining. The relentless pursuit of the wealthy Lord Rufford by the ruthless, slightly shopworn society beauty Arabella Trefoil is hilarious—though with a tragic undertow at points, in that Arabella is a monster created in part by her equally monstrous parents, and by a society that allows few outlets for a woman’s energy other than trying to land the biggest marital fish within her range. Fortune-hunting is hardly an unusual theme in Victorian fiction, but Trollope carries it to extraordinary extremes here, using the parallel with his favorite sporting activity very effectively. (Literally cornered by Arabella in a field in one climactic scene, Lord Rufford reflects ruefully, “As for [her] hunting him, that was a matter of course. He was as much born and bred to be hunted as a fox.”)
I found Trollope’s attitude to Arabella interesting. He describes her in a letter of 1876, the year after the novel was published, as “the odious female,” and he says of her character that he wanted to use it “to express the depth of my scorn for women who run down [i.e. hunt] husbands”—a practice he saw as on the rise. Odious as he makes Arabella on one level, however, Trollope allows her a great deal of subjectivity, a clear-sighted sense of her own badness, and a few stirrings of conscience. She is the life of the novel, just as Becky Sharp is the life of Vanity Fair.
The title is misleading, in that the American senator of the title, on an extended visit to England, is a minor character and his plot is not particularly well integrated. This is essentially a country house / small-town English life piece, with a couple of love triangles thrown in (as well as an inordinate amount of lovingly detailed discussions and narrative accounts of fox hunting—be warned! This seems an occupational hazard with Trollope.)
The more “serious” of the two love plots, involving an attorney’s daughter, Mary Masters, deliberating between a smitten young gentleman farmer, Lawrence Twentyman, and a more distant, squirearchal object of desire, Reginald Morton, left me pretty much cold; in fact, the snobbishness that seemed to underpin Mary’s preference for the uncharismatic Morton, I found distinctly offputting. (As perhaps, at some level, did Trollope; he gives Twentyman a more interesting character than Morton as a kind of consolation prize.)
The less serious of the two love plots was far more entertaining. The relentless pursuit of the wealthy Lord Rufford by the ruthless, slightly shopworn society beauty Arabella Trefoil is hilarious—though with a tragic undertow at points, in that Arabella is a monster created in part by her equally monstrous parents, and by a society that allows few outlets for a woman’s energy other than trying to land the biggest marital fish within her range. Fortune-hunting is hardly an unusual theme in Victorian fiction, but Trollope carries it to extraordinary extremes here, using the parallel with his favorite sporting activity very effectively. (Literally cornered by Arabella in a field in one climactic scene, Lord Rufford reflects ruefully, “As for [her] hunting him, that was a matter of course. He was as much born and bred to be hunted as a fox.”)
I found Trollope’s attitude to Arabella interesting. He describes her in a letter of 1876, the year after the novel was published, as “the odious female,” and he says of her character that he wanted to use it “to express the depth of my scorn for women who run down [i.e. hunt] husbands”—a practice he saw as on the rise. Odious as he makes Arabella on one level, however, Trollope allows her a great deal of subjectivity, a clear-sighted sense of her own badness, and a few stirrings of conscience. She is the life of the novel, just as Becky Sharp is the life of Vanity Fair.
September 6, 2011
This is my 26th Trollope novel. I am bereft that there are only 21 more to read. With an average of 500 pages that means only 10,500 more pages of joy.
The American Senator is a late novel. I have noticed that the satire is slightly more bitter than in the earlier novels, but fear not! There are still sweet, totally predictable love stories and great kindness toward all characters, even the ones you want to strangle.
Arabella Trefoil would stand up very well to Edith Wharton's Undine Spragg in Custom Of The Country. She is even more bold-faced in her mercenary pursuit of a husband. But what is so wonderful about Trollope is that even though we see how totally manipulative and amoral she is in her attempts to land a man, he gradually endows her with a pathos that makes us unable to hate her. In fact, he gives her exactly the fate she deserves and it appears to be just fine with her and us.
Great comic characters abound. The eponymous Senator is not so much a character but Trollope's mouthpiece for his running commentary on the absurdities of English life that run through the book.
A delight. Highly recommended
The American Senator is a late novel. I have noticed that the satire is slightly more bitter than in the earlier novels, but fear not! There are still sweet, totally predictable love stories and great kindness toward all characters, even the ones you want to strangle.
Arabella Trefoil would stand up very well to Edith Wharton's Undine Spragg in Custom Of The Country. She is even more bold-faced in her mercenary pursuit of a husband. But what is so wonderful about Trollope is that even though we see how totally manipulative and amoral she is in her attempts to land a man, he gradually endows her with a pathos that makes us unable to hate her. In fact, he gives her exactly the fate she deserves and it appears to be just fine with her and us.
Great comic characters abound. The eponymous Senator is not so much a character but Trollope's mouthpiece for his running commentary on the absurdities of English life that run through the book.
A delight. Highly recommended
April 13, 2024
Early on in reading Anthony Trollope’s The American Senator, I complained that it was not that good. Other readers at Goodreads suggested that with Trollope; it is often the case that the reading pleasure arrives later. This is my 7th Trollope, so I soldiered on. I do hereby declare that in the case of The American Senator the advice is good. It gets better. As is the case for most of the better known books of Victorian England, it is family friendly and appropriate for any age range with the patience and a thing for romance.
At its center this is another Victorian novel about domestic politics among the gentry. The goal for the ladies is to marry into security, and the men to perform something close to community service. As is typical in Trollope he chooses a central theme and has his characters play out several variations on that theme. On the sidelines is our American Senator. A total outsider with no sensitivities and a flat-footed skill at voicing the inconvenient truths.
We can quickly dispense with the senator. His is good for several laughs and his criticisms of England are at once correct and rather beside the point.
Trollope uses this book to have us consider the problems of marring for love verses marring for money. Arabella Trefoil is not quite the fresh debutante she was several years before the book opens. She has little money or expectations. Via better off family members she has entre'e into the society of the gentry and is determined to assume any identity that will result with her marrying ‘up’ into money.
Mary Masters is the daughter of a country lawyer and has no property or great expectations. She should have as her goal marriage to the ready, loyal and loving untitled, hard working Larry Twentyman. Such a marriage is class appropriate, but means a life with little in the way of either luxury or conversation. She would have to work but her life would be secure.
The complication is that Mary does not love Larry.
More than this risks spoilers.
Instead my observation is that this book is a lot of fun. In places funny. The scheming machinations of several characters maneuvering for the custom of; or preference by; or romance with the titled and moneyed can be wicked fun. The occasional barbs by the senator can sound more like modern late-night comedy. Mary is certainly sympathetic, especially when she is a victim of her step-mother (Sound like an appeal to tradition for literary step moms, right?) But even Step mom gets a near comedic comeuppance.
I am not saying that this is a rollicking farce, or a laugh a minute book. Only that Trollope is free with the sly knowing smile and elements of drawing room comedy.
Once the real story is completed, The Senator returns. Risking his skin, he presents himself before the British public and delivers a lecture. This is played for more humor, but there is more than a little bite of truth in what Trollope has to say about his fellow countrymen.
At its center this is another Victorian novel about domestic politics among the gentry. The goal for the ladies is to marry into security, and the men to perform something close to community service. As is typical in Trollope he chooses a central theme and has his characters play out several variations on that theme. On the sidelines is our American Senator. A total outsider with no sensitivities and a flat-footed skill at voicing the inconvenient truths.
We can quickly dispense with the senator. His is good for several laughs and his criticisms of England are at once correct and rather beside the point.
Trollope uses this book to have us consider the problems of marring for love verses marring for money. Arabella Trefoil is not quite the fresh debutante she was several years before the book opens. She has little money or expectations. Via better off family members she has entre'e into the society of the gentry and is determined to assume any identity that will result with her marrying ‘up’ into money.
Mary Masters is the daughter of a country lawyer and has no property or great expectations. She should have as her goal marriage to the ready, loyal and loving untitled, hard working Larry Twentyman. Such a marriage is class appropriate, but means a life with little in the way of either luxury or conversation. She would have to work but her life would be secure.
The complication is that Mary does not love Larry.
More than this risks spoilers.
Instead my observation is that this book is a lot of fun. In places funny. The scheming machinations of several characters maneuvering for the custom of; or preference by; or romance with the titled and moneyed can be wicked fun. The occasional barbs by the senator can sound more like modern late-night comedy. Mary is certainly sympathetic, especially when she is a victim of her step-mother (Sound like an appeal to tradition for literary step moms, right?) But even Step mom gets a near comedic comeuppance.
I am not saying that this is a rollicking farce, or a laugh a minute book. Only that Trollope is free with the sly knowing smile and elements of drawing room comedy.
Once the real story is completed, The Senator returns. Risking his skin, he presents himself before the British public and delivers a lecture. This is played for more humor, but there is more than a little bite of truth in what Trollope has to say about his fellow countrymen.
July 12, 2011
I bumped this to four stars from three. I've read all of Trollope. It took many years. When I ranked his books when I first signed up for Goodreads, I had only vague recollections about some of them. I started reading him when I was in my twenties because I was looking for an author who wrote lots of fat books where pretty much nothing happened. He quickly became one of my very favorite writers, especially in the big books told by his charming narrator.
To be fair, this book is mediocre Trollope. But mediocre Trollope is still very, very good. It interweaves three plots that center around a rural area named Diillsborough. It should probably have been named Dullsborough. First, there is a love triangle among the moderately well off class - a working farmer, a younger son who just barely has enough to maintain a life of leisure, and the daughter of a struggling attorney. This story is quite thin, and it involves a plot that Trollope retread many times. A good girl is admired by a man quite suitable for her, but she doesn't love him. Everyone tries to push her into the marriage, but she refuses to yield. Secretly, her heart belongs to another.
Second, and quite more biting, are the efforts of Arabella Trefoil, a beautiful and heartless social climber. She starts the book engaged to one fairly wealthy, but dull man (who is the elder son of the gentleman involved in plot number one). But she soon sets her sights higher, and tries to catch a Lord while keeping open her options on the first engagement. Bella is a great character. The Lord she tries to catch is weak willed, a bit slimy in his dealings with women, and a liar. It's pretty clear from the start that he will escape from Bella. It's less clear whether this was the best thing, either for him or her.
The remaining plot is probably the weakest part of the book. It involves the American Senator and his observations about English country life. Trollope has the Senator introduced to this by trying to get him to understand the values of fox hunting. This plot involves some people who laid poison in a wood to kill either some foxes or hounds. One suspect has shown resentment over the hunters trampling his crops, and foxes eating his livestock. The Senator comes to his defense. This plot is by far the thinnest of the three, and the Senator is pretty much a one-dimensional boor, who happens to also be fairly intelligent. On the plus side, the fox hunting gives a great parallel to Arabella's hunt for the Lord, and Trollope handles the comparison very nicely, without being too blunt.
To be fair, this book is mediocre Trollope. But mediocre Trollope is still very, very good. It interweaves three plots that center around a rural area named Diillsborough. It should probably have been named Dullsborough. First, there is a love triangle among the moderately well off class - a working farmer, a younger son who just barely has enough to maintain a life of leisure, and the daughter of a struggling attorney. This story is quite thin, and it involves a plot that Trollope retread many times. A good girl is admired by a man quite suitable for her, but she doesn't love him. Everyone tries to push her into the marriage, but she refuses to yield. Secretly, her heart belongs to another.
Second, and quite more biting, are the efforts of Arabella Trefoil, a beautiful and heartless social climber. She starts the book engaged to one fairly wealthy, but dull man (who is the elder son of the gentleman involved in plot number one). But she soon sets her sights higher, and tries to catch a Lord while keeping open her options on the first engagement. Bella is a great character. The Lord she tries to catch is weak willed, a bit slimy in his dealings with women, and a liar. It's pretty clear from the start that he will escape from Bella. It's less clear whether this was the best thing, either for him or her.
The remaining plot is probably the weakest part of the book. It involves the American Senator and his observations about English country life. Trollope has the Senator introduced to this by trying to get him to understand the values of fox hunting. This plot involves some people who laid poison in a wood to kill either some foxes or hounds. One suspect has shown resentment over the hunters trampling his crops, and foxes eating his livestock. The Senator comes to his defense. This plot is by far the thinnest of the three, and the Senator is pretty much a one-dimensional boor, who happens to also be fairly intelligent. On the plus side, the fox hunting gives a great parallel to Arabella's hunt for the Lord, and Trollope handles the comparison very nicely, without being too blunt.
March 4, 2025
It was good to get back to Trollope after roughly a year since last reading him. The American senator of the title does not figure prominently in the novel but is used to draw attention to some of the inequalities and absurdities of the English way of life.
The two main plotlines consist of Larry Twentyman's attempts to make Mary Morton his wife and Arabella Trefoil's attempt to snare herself a rich husband. Arabella is not what you would call a "nice" girl but she has some nerve and possibly by the end of the novel you will be rooting for her as I was.
The two main plotlines consist of Larry Twentyman's attempts to make Mary Morton his wife and Arabella Trefoil's attempt to snare herself a rich husband. Arabella is not what you would call a "nice" girl but she has some nerve and possibly by the end of the novel you will be rooting for her as I was.
May 4, 2021
4.5* An underrated Trollope novel of scheming and saintly young women in search of a husband.
January 22, 2016
Better than I remembered it. For some books, especially those byAnthony Trollope, re-reading reveals so much more depth and nuance. This book was one of those for me. Great.
March 6, 2014
classic serial starts wednesday
I try, I try, yet Trollope is just as he sounds!
I try, I try, yet Trollope is just as he sounds!
April 6, 2013
"Many Trollope readers are aware that Trollope's mother Frances gained fame as a writer by criticizing America (Domestic Manners of the Americans, 1832); few modern fans have had the opportunity to read her son's views on this country as delineated in such rare novels as The American Senator (1877).
"The character of an American politician lecturing the English on their faults gives Trollope his chance to compare the two cultures; still, it must have been Trollopeanirony which urged the author of The American Senator to adopt that title 'very much in opposition to my publishers,' he says in his Autobiography. For in this masterly but practically unknown novel from Trollope's later period, the visiting Senator, Elias Gotobed from the state of 'Mickewa', serves as comic relief to a stunningly sharp drama of feminine cynicism and calculation on the English marriage market.
"While Senator Gotobed analyzes England in his typically blunt, naively daringmanner, the true focal point of the story, heroine/villaness Arabella Trefoil, develops into one of the most complex and successfully realized of all Trollope's women. Her coldly enacted yet oddly heroic pursuit of Lord Rufford, while she is simultaneously engaged to John Morton, spurs Trollope to the extraordinary reaches of ironic perception. The American Senator pokes his inquisitive nose into these and other doings of Dillsborough, through whose citizens Trollope creates another English village world. Mary Masters and her two lovers of unequal birth, the local fox hunt club, and the neighboring gentry provide the frame for one of Trollope's full-length mirrors of Victorian England."
~~back cover
I enjoyed the book very much, and intend to read it again as this first time around I read for plot and not for nuances--of which there were many.
This was a fascinating glimpse into the mind and machinations of a young Victorian lady related to the peerage but without status or wealth in her own right, who needed to marry but who could not expect to marry a title with no money to bring to the marriage, and who could not marry a commoner because of being related to a Duke & Duchess. In addition, she had the handicaps of a wastrel father and a socially inept mother to overcome. Many of the characters are a bit one-dimensional but of course that's to illustrate a point or a characteristic of English village life.
All in all, I recommend this book if you enjoy reading Victorian England fiction done by a very accomplished author.
"The character of an American politician lecturing the English on their faults gives Trollope his chance to compare the two cultures; still, it must have been Trollopeanirony which urged the author of The American Senator to adopt that title 'very much in opposition to my publishers,' he says in his Autobiography. For in this masterly but practically unknown novel from Trollope's later period, the visiting Senator, Elias Gotobed from the state of 'Mickewa', serves as comic relief to a stunningly sharp drama of feminine cynicism and calculation on the English marriage market.
"While Senator Gotobed analyzes England in his typically blunt, naively daringmanner, the true focal point of the story, heroine/villaness Arabella Trefoil, develops into one of the most complex and successfully realized of all Trollope's women. Her coldly enacted yet oddly heroic pursuit of Lord Rufford, while she is simultaneously engaged to John Morton, spurs Trollope to the extraordinary reaches of ironic perception. The American Senator pokes his inquisitive nose into these and other doings of Dillsborough, through whose citizens Trollope creates another English village world. Mary Masters and her two lovers of unequal birth, the local fox hunt club, and the neighboring gentry provide the frame for one of Trollope's full-length mirrors of Victorian England."
~~back cover
I enjoyed the book very much, and intend to read it again as this first time around I read for plot and not for nuances--of which there were many.
This was a fascinating glimpse into the mind and machinations of a young Victorian lady related to the peerage but without status or wealth in her own right, who needed to marry but who could not expect to marry a title with no money to bring to the marriage, and who could not marry a commoner because of being related to a Duke & Duchess. In addition, she had the handicaps of a wastrel father and a socially inept mother to overcome. Many of the characters are a bit one-dimensional but of course that's to illustrate a point or a characteristic of English village life.
All in all, I recommend this book if you enjoy reading Victorian England fiction done by a very accomplished author.
April 15, 2007
No, this novel isn't set in America. And it isn't really about the senator either. He merely serves as a sort of catalyst, giving Trollope an opportunity for republican jabs at British institutions, and counterjabs at republicanism, since the senator's ideas are often foolish.
The novel is set in the English countryside, where the senator is visiting, and its plots revolve largely around love and marriage. As is frequently the case in these 19th century settings, love is at the heart of good middle class marriages, and a threat to the making of a good marriage among the upper classes. These themes are played out here.
There's also a good deal of fox hunting. Trollope loved hunting, and it is frequently featured in his novels, although I seem not to have mentioned that in my other reviews of Trollope novels. Here the unimaginable happens -- someone poisons a fox! The hunting crowd is determined that this crime not go unavenged.
I thought about the story of this vulpecide a few years ago when England decided to ban hunting. Hunters would be happy in a world filled with foxes, but farmers would prefer a foxless world. Will England's decision to ban hunting mean the end of the fox? I sometimes wonder.
The novel is set in the English countryside, where the senator is visiting, and its plots revolve largely around love and marriage. As is frequently the case in these 19th century settings, love is at the heart of good middle class marriages, and a threat to the making of a good marriage among the upper classes. These themes are played out here.
There's also a good deal of fox hunting. Trollope loved hunting, and it is frequently featured in his novels, although I seem not to have mentioned that in my other reviews of Trollope novels. Here the unimaginable happens -- someone poisons a fox! The hunting crowd is determined that this crime not go unavenged.
I thought about the story of this vulpecide a few years ago when England decided to ban hunting. Hunters would be happy in a world filled with foxes, but farmers would prefer a foxless world. Will England's decision to ban hunting mean the end of the fox? I sometimes wonder.
August 24, 2015
This little known Trollope classic is wonderful -- the beginning chapter is a little slow in large part because Trollope is introducing a morass of interconnected people who do not appear in other Trollope novels and who are critical to what becomes a rollicking, hilarious, fast-paced story about horses, hounds, gracious grand-aunts, horrid mothers-in-law, simple farmers, striving lawyers, complacent gentry, virtuous townsfolk, a saint-like Cinderella and one unimaginably desperate and venal social climber. Great stuff! If you want to dip into Trollope but don't want to embark on the intimidating Barchester Chronciles or Palliser books, this is the book for you.
October 19, 2021
This is my second read of this book, with the Trollope Society Big Read. Loved it even better this time!
Spoiler Alert!!! The American Senator, Mr. GotoBed from the state of Mickawa, tried to understand the English ways and laws, but he was quite offensive but often right.
The two love stories were what I loved about the book. Arabella Trefoil was determined to marry Lord Rufford, and tried every way she could to bring him around. Reginald Morton and Mary Masters can't seem to get together easily, but they do in the end. Wonderful characters, especially John Morton who loved Arabella, but died at end of novel.
Spoiler Alert!!! The American Senator, Mr. GotoBed from the state of Mickawa, tried to understand the English ways and laws, but he was quite offensive but often right.
The two love stories were what I loved about the book. Arabella Trefoil was determined to marry Lord Rufford, and tried every way she could to bring him around. Reginald Morton and Mary Masters can't seem to get together easily, but they do in the end. Wonderful characters, especially John Morton who loved Arabella, but died at end of novel.
January 31, 2022
Even Trollope writes at the end of the book that The American Senator is a somewhat misleading title for this novel. There is an American Senator- Senator Gotobed (another of Trollope's ridiculous names)- and he is alternately humorous and irritating with multiple awkward moments as he questions those he meets regarding church patronage, political representation, and particularly in this novel, why hunters and their hounds are free to rampage over any private property they like!
Fortunately, however, he isn't the main character of this enjoyable novel. We have Arabella Trefoil, a penniless but handsome lady who is on her last hurrah as far as finding a suitable husband goes and will stop at little to achieve her goal. There is the Morton's, John and Reginald, with a family history that is convoluted and acrimonious, the Masters family with an eldest daughter, Mary, who spent much of her youth at the Morton ancestral home, Lord Rufford an amiable but slightly clueless aristocrat and Larry Twentyman, a lovelorn farmer.
All these characters and many more weave in and out of each other's lives to create drama, humor and intrigue that often leave us guessing unto the end as to the fate of each of them. As usual the women are the strongest figures with the quite wonderful Mrs. Masters providing a deal of shock and delight in her behavior, but I'll admit Larry Twentyman won my heart just a little. There is slightly too much hunting for me as so often occurs in Trollope's novels but a lot more in this one about the ordinary working people of the period which after reading the Palliser novels I found I really appreciated. This was yet another successful foray into the author who could easily be described as an absolute favorite of mine.
Fortunately, however, he isn't the main character of this enjoyable novel. We have Arabella Trefoil, a penniless but handsome lady who is on her last hurrah as far as finding a suitable husband goes and will stop at little to achieve her goal. There is the Morton's, John and Reginald, with a family history that is convoluted and acrimonious, the Masters family with an eldest daughter, Mary, who spent much of her youth at the Morton ancestral home, Lord Rufford an amiable but slightly clueless aristocrat and Larry Twentyman, a lovelorn farmer.
All these characters and many more weave in and out of each other's lives to create drama, humor and intrigue that often leave us guessing unto the end as to the fate of each of them. As usual the women are the strongest figures with the quite wonderful Mrs. Masters providing a deal of shock and delight in her behavior, but I'll admit Larry Twentyman won my heart just a little. There is slightly too much hunting for me as so often occurs in Trollope's novels but a lot more in this one about the ordinary working people of the period which after reading the Palliser novels I found I really appreciated. This was yet another successful foray into the author who could easily be described as an absolute favorite of mine.
August 29, 2021
A wonderful stand-alone Trollope, in which the American Senator of the title (who is given the fabulous name of Elias Gotobed), observes and comments upon English society. And a key representative of this society is the also marvelously-named Arabella Trefoil, a husband-hunting, practically penniless woman nearing thirty, who has a tenuous connection to high society but travels about with her dreadful mother. Arabella is one of the most interesting and vivid characters I’ve ever encountered in fiction.
There’s also a love story, several hunting scenes, and a mystery about some poisoned herring. What more could you ask for?
There’s also a love story, several hunting scenes, and a mystery about some poisoned herring. What more could you ask for?
September 16, 2021
Trollope’s excellent character development and stories of Victorian England make him a favorite. The American Senator was a selection by the Trollope Society, so to participate in discussion, I have added it to my list of already read books by Trollope. The American Senator may be my favorite Trollope story, to date.
The title, “The American Senator” is quite a fascinating title and deceiving because the American Senator is not the primary character in this work. Trollope’s representation of the American Senator is curious on many levels. He is not the most important character nor the primary focus of the book, yet appears at various times throughout the work, mocking the English. A Mr. Elias Gotobed (interesting name for an American Senator), a Senator from Mickewa (a fictitious State in the USA), is obnoxious and narcissistic. This character makes me wonder if Trollope is another one of those Englishman who have a distain for all things American. His mother disliked Americans, and other compatriots like Dickens, Kipling, and other British celebrities viewed American slavery and other aspects of the society as quite distasteful. Mr. Gotobed is the vehicle that Trollope uses to poke fun at the English tradition of fox hunting. But he did not need an American Senator to accomplish this task, so no! I believe he also does not like the repugnant American sense of superiority, but either way Gotobed adds substance and humor to this narrative.
I enjoyed this brilliant and humorous tale of passion, romance, and Fox hunting; after realizing Trollope’s mischievous nature, I giggled my way through this most entertaining and stylistic work of the magnificent Mr. Trollope.
The main character in this book is Arabella Trefoil and the main theme is Foxhunting. Arabella Trefoil is a femme fatale. She is the personification of the classic stock character, a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. Under Trollope’s tutelage, she, and her mother us their guile on two rich gentlemen of Dillsborough in the futile search for title and fortune.
Trollope ensures that the reader does not like either party. Arabella becomes engaged to two different noblemen at the same time through deception. The reader has empathy for both men and eventually they do escape her talons. but in the meantime, Trollope puts the reader on an emotional rollercoaster ride, so there is always doubt as to the outcome. Trollope uses this device often, therefore, this reader was convinced from the outset that all the scheming and deception of these two women would be for naught. Trollope is at heart, a melodramatic writer, so after all the emotion; I knew all would turn out well.
Part of Trollope’s magic are the twists and turns of his narrative. He drops a bomb and then moves on to another part of his story leaving the reader emotionally trapped until he returns to the bombs crater. This technique is employed quite often in stories serialized in the magazines of the Victorian era, remember Sherlock Holmes in the Strand magazine.
The town of Dillsborough and most of Victorian England, was obsessed with foxhunting, particularly the landed gentry. Trollope uses the good Senator from America to stir up, in his insufferable way, all the negative issues surrounding foxhunting. The senator makes a big to do about the poor farmers trampled fields and of course, he is sympathetic of the poor fox.
Trollope was an avid fox hunter, so the reader is slightly confused. Is he using the Senator to make a point, just teasing the reader or do these issues normally surface in an English village during the hunting season? In any case, this reader believes that Trollope dislikes the cocksure and arrogant American personality and used the Senator as a provocation is his soliloquy on foxhunting.
Trollope wrote at an incredible pace, he once stated, “It had at this time become my custom, —and is still my custom, though of late I have become a little lenient of myself—to write with my watch before me, and to require of myself 250 words every quarter of an hour”. It is not unusual for his narratives to go on for six hundred pages plus. He achieves this volume by being meticulous in his detail; and this is one of the many attractions of his writing.
After reading the American Senator, if I could ask him a question, I would ask what comes first, the story or the characters? To conceptualize a story, in this case, the town of Dillsborough during the hunting season and to populate the town with characters who truly fit their roles and then provide them with human emotion and personality is genius. You will find Trollope as among the best writers of the Victorian age and the American Senator among his best work.
The title, “The American Senator” is quite a fascinating title and deceiving because the American Senator is not the primary character in this work. Trollope’s representation of the American Senator is curious on many levels. He is not the most important character nor the primary focus of the book, yet appears at various times throughout the work, mocking the English. A Mr. Elias Gotobed (interesting name for an American Senator), a Senator from Mickewa (a fictitious State in the USA), is obnoxious and narcissistic. This character makes me wonder if Trollope is another one of those Englishman who have a distain for all things American. His mother disliked Americans, and other compatriots like Dickens, Kipling, and other British celebrities viewed American slavery and other aspects of the society as quite distasteful. Mr. Gotobed is the vehicle that Trollope uses to poke fun at the English tradition of fox hunting. But he did not need an American Senator to accomplish this task, so no! I believe he also does not like the repugnant American sense of superiority, but either way Gotobed adds substance and humor to this narrative.
I enjoyed this brilliant and humorous tale of passion, romance, and Fox hunting; after realizing Trollope’s mischievous nature, I giggled my way through this most entertaining and stylistic work of the magnificent Mr. Trollope.
The main character in this book is Arabella Trefoil and the main theme is Foxhunting. Arabella Trefoil is a femme fatale. She is the personification of the classic stock character, a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. Under Trollope’s tutelage, she, and her mother us their guile on two rich gentlemen of Dillsborough in the futile search for title and fortune.
Trollope ensures that the reader does not like either party. Arabella becomes engaged to two different noblemen at the same time through deception. The reader has empathy for both men and eventually they do escape her talons. but in the meantime, Trollope puts the reader on an emotional rollercoaster ride, so there is always doubt as to the outcome. Trollope uses this device often, therefore, this reader was convinced from the outset that all the scheming and deception of these two women would be for naught. Trollope is at heart, a melodramatic writer, so after all the emotion; I knew all would turn out well.
Part of Trollope’s magic are the twists and turns of his narrative. He drops a bomb and then moves on to another part of his story leaving the reader emotionally trapped until he returns to the bombs crater. This technique is employed quite often in stories serialized in the magazines of the Victorian era, remember Sherlock Holmes in the Strand magazine.
The town of Dillsborough and most of Victorian England, was obsessed with foxhunting, particularly the landed gentry. Trollope uses the good Senator from America to stir up, in his insufferable way, all the negative issues surrounding foxhunting. The senator makes a big to do about the poor farmers trampled fields and of course, he is sympathetic of the poor fox.
Trollope was an avid fox hunter, so the reader is slightly confused. Is he using the Senator to make a point, just teasing the reader or do these issues normally surface in an English village during the hunting season? In any case, this reader believes that Trollope dislikes the cocksure and arrogant American personality and used the Senator as a provocation is his soliloquy on foxhunting.
Trollope wrote at an incredible pace, he once stated, “It had at this time become my custom, —and is still my custom, though of late I have become a little lenient of myself—to write with my watch before me, and to require of myself 250 words every quarter of an hour”. It is not unusual for his narratives to go on for six hundred pages plus. He achieves this volume by being meticulous in his detail; and this is one of the many attractions of his writing.
After reading the American Senator, if I could ask him a question, I would ask what comes first, the story or the characters? To conceptualize a story, in this case, the town of Dillsborough during the hunting season and to populate the town with characters who truly fit their roles and then provide them with human emotion and personality is genius. You will find Trollope as among the best writers of the Victorian age and the American Senator among his best work.
December 5, 2011
This is the 9th Trollope I have read this year, having fallen in love initially with the Barset novels. Whilst this is by no means his best work, Trollope’s very best is such a high standard that even his “second-rate” novels are really fine examples of his craft and well worth reading.
The American Senator of the title is actually not the main focus of the story, but more a vehicle through whose eyes Trollope exposes the highs and lows of British life of the period and indeed some of the flaws which exist in our society even now. The Senator, the wonderfully named Elias Gotobed, is paying a visit to Britain to study British society, and whilst here ruffles the feathers of the great and good of British society. There are certain parts of the novel where the Senator’s expostulations are clearly a diatribe of Trollope’s own grievances with British society, and indeed these areas are some of the weakest in the novel, but they are small and interspersed with some very funny instances of the Senator committing numerous faux pas.
However, the main thrust of the novel actually comes with a number of the characters who the Senator encounters on his visit. The “heroine” of the novel is Mary Masters, one of the sweet young things who Trollope creates, though thankfully not as annoying as his most famous example of this type of character, the Pollyanna-ish Lily Dale. Mary has become like a surrogate daughter to Lady Ushant and falls in love with her nephew Reginald Morton. Meanwhile, she is being courted by Larry Twentyman, a local farmer and fine young man who, despite his desperate and repeated attempts which are encouraged in particular by Mary’s stepmother, fails to capture Mary’s heart.
This main plot is pleasant enough to read and the main protagonists are all likeable characters. However, the real treat of the novel actually comes with its sub-plot, the story of the machinations of anti-heroine Arabella Trefoil. The novel has a slow start, but please do persist through that because you will then get to the point of meeting the delightfully naughty Arabella and be introduced to one of the most complex, intriguing and ultimately endearing female characters in literature.
Arabella is a beauty but without any fortune of her own, and clocking on a bit by the standards of the time (she is only 30). However, she carries hopes of making a brilliant marriage and is encouraged to this end by her heartless mother. However she has refused too many men who couldn’t give her just the fortune she desired, or didn’t have as high rank society as she desired and so is now in the later, desperate stages of trying to secure a husband. She carries on these machinations throughout the novel, despite being engaged to a well respected diplomat and local squire John Morton. John has a country estate, a decent fortune and is very well respected both as a man and diplomat. But Arabella is all the time trying to trap Lord Rufford into marriage, as he can provide her with a larger house, more money, and a title.
Through Arabella, Trollope provides a brilliant study and criticism of the “marriage-market” of the time. He evokes images of women “fishing” for husbands, whilst also showing a compassion for the fate of women such as Arabella in having to effectively sell themselves to the highest bidder. The novel is a great study of society at the time, but also just a darn good story.
There are one or two elements I did not like here though. As I said previously, the novel is a slow starter and it really took a good 100 pages to get going and really grip me. Also, there are some prolonged scenes of hunting, in which Trollope took a great interest, which are not really to the tastes of the modern reader (and I say that as someone who has no gripe with fox hunting). They just to do not seem relevant or interesting to our less rural society now and I happily skipped over some of his. The other slightly annoying element was the Senator himself. At times he was a little “preachy” for my liking, and perhaps not as funny to the modern sense of humour as when he was first written. Trollope is certainly at his most cynical, bordering on bitter, in this novel and this does make for at times a more uncomfortable read than we are used to in his work. However, it also does give an interesting glimpse into, and indictment of, the political system of the time.
All in all, The American Senator was an enjoyable read. However, if you are new to Trollope I would recommend starting with the Barset or Palliser novels and come to the American Senator when you are more familiar with Trollope’s work as you will then be able to appreciate this novel more.
The American Senator of the title is actually not the main focus of the story, but more a vehicle through whose eyes Trollope exposes the highs and lows of British life of the period and indeed some of the flaws which exist in our society even now. The Senator, the wonderfully named Elias Gotobed, is paying a visit to Britain to study British society, and whilst here ruffles the feathers of the great and good of British society. There are certain parts of the novel where the Senator’s expostulations are clearly a diatribe of Trollope’s own grievances with British society, and indeed these areas are some of the weakest in the novel, but they are small and interspersed with some very funny instances of the Senator committing numerous faux pas.
However, the main thrust of the novel actually comes with a number of the characters who the Senator encounters on his visit. The “heroine” of the novel is Mary Masters, one of the sweet young things who Trollope creates, though thankfully not as annoying as his most famous example of this type of character, the Pollyanna-ish Lily Dale. Mary has become like a surrogate daughter to Lady Ushant and falls in love with her nephew Reginald Morton. Meanwhile, she is being courted by Larry Twentyman, a local farmer and fine young man who, despite his desperate and repeated attempts which are encouraged in particular by Mary’s stepmother, fails to capture Mary’s heart.
This main plot is pleasant enough to read and the main protagonists are all likeable characters. However, the real treat of the novel actually comes with its sub-plot, the story of the machinations of anti-heroine Arabella Trefoil. The novel has a slow start, but please do persist through that because you will then get to the point of meeting the delightfully naughty Arabella and be introduced to one of the most complex, intriguing and ultimately endearing female characters in literature.
Arabella is a beauty but without any fortune of her own, and clocking on a bit by the standards of the time (she is only 30). However, she carries hopes of making a brilliant marriage and is encouraged to this end by her heartless mother. However she has refused too many men who couldn’t give her just the fortune she desired, or didn’t have as high rank society as she desired and so is now in the later, desperate stages of trying to secure a husband. She carries on these machinations throughout the novel, despite being engaged to a well respected diplomat and local squire John Morton. John has a country estate, a decent fortune and is very well respected both as a man and diplomat. But Arabella is all the time trying to trap Lord Rufford into marriage, as he can provide her with a larger house, more money, and a title.
Through Arabella, Trollope provides a brilliant study and criticism of the “marriage-market” of the time. He evokes images of women “fishing” for husbands, whilst also showing a compassion for the fate of women such as Arabella in having to effectively sell themselves to the highest bidder. The novel is a great study of society at the time, but also just a darn good story.
There are one or two elements I did not like here though. As I said previously, the novel is a slow starter and it really took a good 100 pages to get going and really grip me. Also, there are some prolonged scenes of hunting, in which Trollope took a great interest, which are not really to the tastes of the modern reader (and I say that as someone who has no gripe with fox hunting). They just to do not seem relevant or interesting to our less rural society now and I happily skipped over some of his. The other slightly annoying element was the Senator himself. At times he was a little “preachy” for my liking, and perhaps not as funny to the modern sense of humour as when he was first written. Trollope is certainly at his most cynical, bordering on bitter, in this novel and this does make for at times a more uncomfortable read than we are used to in his work. However, it also does give an interesting glimpse into, and indictment of, the political system of the time.
All in all, The American Senator was an enjoyable read. However, if you are new to Trollope I would recommend starting with the Barset or Palliser novels and come to the American Senator when you are more familiar with Trollope’s work as you will then be able to appreciate this novel more.
July 21, 2011
In all of English literature, there are few prolific authors who do not have a certain number of stinkers among their oeuvre. Although there are some of his novels I like better than others, I cannot think of a single stinker in the lot, even Linda Tressel, for which I have no great love.
I have been reading The American Senator since march with the Yahoo! Trollope group. As with most of the man's work, it did not take more than two or three chapter to be enchanted once again by the author's genuine high moral sense and skill in weaving the difficulties of his heroes and heroines, particularly in the field of love and marriage.
Who is the hero or The American Senator? If one believes the author, it is Farmer Larry Twentyman, but he has a relatively minor role and is one of the few people who is disgruntled at the end of the novel. Another disgruntled party is the title character himself, Senator Elias Gotobed from the Great State of Mickewa, who persists in seeing the English as a congeries of flaws and winds up being hooted off the stage when he tries to tell them so.
No, I would opt for the disagreeable (especially at first) Arabella Trefoil. She begins the novel as the fiancée of John Morton, a British diplomat, but attempts ruthlessly to "trade up" to the wealthier and more glittery Lord Rufford. She throws herself at him, not once but many times, but he continues to resist her. When she tries to nail him on a breach of promise, she is totally defeated and drained. But there is a hopeful future, even for her, what though it be in distant Patagonia as the wife of another British diplomat.
Here the author looks at Arabella through the eyes of her equally troublesome mother, from whom she has been estranged for most of the story:
This is probably not near the best of Trollope's novels; but, long as it is, it is certainly worth reading, if for no other reason than how he gave Arabella another chance.
I have been reading The American Senator since march with the Yahoo! Trollope group. As with most of the man's work, it did not take more than two or three chapter to be enchanted once again by the author's genuine high moral sense and skill in weaving the difficulties of his heroes and heroines, particularly in the field of love and marriage.
Who is the hero or The American Senator? If one believes the author, it is Farmer Larry Twentyman, but he has a relatively minor role and is one of the few people who is disgruntled at the end of the novel. Another disgruntled party is the title character himself, Senator Elias Gotobed from the Great State of Mickewa, who persists in seeing the English as a congeries of flaws and winds up being hooted off the stage when he tries to tell them so.
No, I would opt for the disagreeable (especially at first) Arabella Trefoil. She begins the novel as the fiancée of John Morton, a British diplomat, but attempts ruthlessly to "trade up" to the wealthier and more glittery Lord Rufford. She throws herself at him, not once but many times, but he continues to resist her. When she tries to nail him on a breach of promise, she is totally defeated and drained. But there is a hopeful future, even for her, what though it be in distant Patagonia as the wife of another British diplomat.
Here the author looks at Arabella through the eyes of her equally troublesome mother, from whom she has been estranged for most of the story:
Though she had quarrelled daily with her daughter for the last twelve years,—to such an extent lately that no decently civil word ever passed between them,—still there had been something to interest her. There had been something to fear and something to hope. The girl had always had some prospect before her, more or less brilliant. Her life had had its occupation, and future triumph was possible. Now it was all over. The link by which she had been bound to the world was broken. The Connop Greens and the Smijths would no longer have her,—unless it might be on short and special occasions, as a great favour. She knew that she was an old woman, without money, without blood, and without attraction, whom nobody would ever again desire to see. She had her things packed up, and herself taken off to London, almost without a word of farewell to the Duchess, telling herself as she went that the world had produced no other people so heartless as the family of the Trefoils.In a word, Arabella is a very modern heroine, something of a bad girl but with redeeming qualities. She grew on me with each succeeding chapter, until at the end, I felt, as I am sure Trollope did, that he could not punish this child of Eve for her all-too-human transgressions.
This is probably not near the best of Trollope's novels; but, long as it is, it is certainly worth reading, if for no other reason than how he gave Arabella another chance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2016
When this novel was recommended to me I had not even heard of it among Trollope's works but gamely gave it a try. I found it the easiest to get into and raced through it on holiday. I think it's probably my favourite of his novels that I've read so far. I feel like at the beginning, Trollope was very savage and was using the character of the American Senator as a vehicle to expose inconsistencies and irrationalities in British culture - and he was savage to all his characters, the Senator included. But as the novel progressed, I felt that the characters all developed and showed that it's never so simple. It's a novel with several different, connected plotlines and I'm not sure it always hangs together coherently, but if there is any theme, it is the very wise that what may stand up in principle or seem initially straight forward is in reality much more complex, whether situations or characters. I found a lot to amuse in this novel and also a lot to provoke a great deal of thought about England, about America, about the attitudes of both countries, about the author, about love and ambition and principles... It was a real treasure trove of interest. I only wish people I knew had actually read it!
April 18, 2020
I have been working my way through Trollope's books (about half done) and I really enjoy them. This one was a little hard to get into. The first chapters were a bit confusing with all the family history (like many of Trollope's books, there are multiple people with the same names, e.g., three John Mortons and two Reginald Mortons). But I know that I like Trollope, so I stuck with it and sure enough I loved the book. The heroine Mary Masters as contrasted with the "anti-heroine" Arabella Trefoil was lots of fun.
A few tips: "The Paragon" is the young John Morton. (Took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this out.) Also, Mr. Gotobed is "The American Senator". Wasn't sure about that for a while. Just knowing those two things will make the book less confusing for you. Enjoy!
A few tips: "The Paragon" is the young John Morton. (Took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure this out.) Also, Mr. Gotobed is "The American Senator". Wasn't sure about that for a while. Just knowing those two things will make the book less confusing for you. Enjoy!
November 22, 2013
Highly engaging and memorable tale of love and politics in the countryside, by one of the language's masters. The characters are chewily, juicily real and distinctive -- even the least interesting character of Mary, who is described in a number of ways as being merely 'brown', and virtuous to go with it. The higher-flying, naughtier Arabella is the real delight of the book, and the scene in which Lord Rufford must preserve the decencies with regard to her is possibly my favourite one in the whole story (not a spoiler, as you can't possibly know what that means unless you've already read it). Watch out for word play: the names, invented or otherwise, aren't accidental.
October 26, 2010
For me, this is not one of Trollope's more memorable novels, I'm afraid. I was far more interested in the plotline involving Arabella Trefoil, the scheming beauty who is the anti-heroine of the novel, than I was in the American senator himself or in the more run-of-the-mill love affair between Mary Masters and Reginald Morton.
December 24, 2018
Good middle-tier Trollope—the senator in question is a funny, ambivalent mouthpiece for Trollope's own questions about British society, and both characters in the "B" couple will stick with me for a while. Worth reading the opening, if nothing else, for Trollope's portrait of a small town that anxiously realizes it has peaked as a small town.
February 4, 2015
Almost a first for me: I gave up halfway through. Very, very slow to move forward. The opening chapters leave the reader knee-deep in redundant genealogical detail, only to be followed by a minute-by-minute account of a day's hunting. Life's too short.
September 6, 2011
Anthony Trollope's tale of Arabella Trefoil, a clever, conniving and ruthless woman.
July 29, 2016
This is a true Trollope novel. Love Arabella Trefoil.
She is a bit like Thackeray's Becky Sharp. This is a great read if you love classics and Trollope.
She is a bit like Thackeray's Becky Sharp. This is a great read if you love classics and Trollope.
September 8, 2022
4.25/5
This was a classic Trollope novel: young women looking for husbands, a Good Girl set as a foil to a quite Becky Sharp-like Bad Girl, various estates and inheritances and lawsuits; and rather more than usual amounts of fox-hunting, even for Trollope. (Indeed,almost every plot point is explored through the structure of a fox hunt.) Thematically, it held together nicely. The Good Girl, Mary Masters, behaves herself as a paragon of female virtue, steadfastly refusing a perfectly nice but slightly vulgar young man with money but little class, because her heart is set on a much more gentlemanly suitor. But, of course, she says nothing because a lady never says anything until a gentleman asks her formally. It's all rather dull, but, fortunately, Trollope livens things up by providing Arabella Trefoil, the Bad Girl. Arabella is all about getting herself a man. She joins us already engaged to one man, but throughout the course of the book we follow her attempts to trade up for a better option, and although she no doubt behaves very badly to her fiance, her character arc evoked an unavoidable sympathy. I don't know if Trollope intended for it to be sympathetic, but given the limitations on women in her position to build a future for themselves, the fact that Arabella is already 30, with rapidly fading attractions, having mastered the art of making herself pleasing and alluring with a businesslike focus, seems not so much a cause for disgust (as Trollope seems to hint) as for pity. The poor woman! This is what she must do with her youth to ward off poverty in middle age! Yes, she is engaged, finally, at the beginning of the book, but she doesn't love the man she is engaged to, and she doesn't have the luxury of waiting to marry for love, as Mary Masters does. Why shouldn't she try to level up? Her shenanigans and boundlessly energetic activities to pull off the better marriage she set her sights on were some of the most entertaining parts of the book, and the eventual fate of both her and her chosen target at the end suggest that Trollope did view her with a certain degree of softness, despite her undeniably bad behavior. I think he does recognize the constraints that bound women of his time and although he can't explicitly condone Arabella's behavior, he can show us how these constraints straiten her options and lead her to behave as she does. Furthermore, her efforts are thematically well aligned with all the fox-hunting the serves as the favorite activity of the various young men involved in Mary and Arabella's matrimonial quests. The men hunt the foxes, and Arabella hunts the men. Nicely done.
The other notable part of this book involved the eponymous American Senator, Mr Gotobed, from the Great Western State of Mickewa. His role is to wander around the events of the plot and make extremely pointed comments about every institution he encounters. You mean clergymen who are responsible for people's souls can just buy a living,or have one bought for them by rich fathers, regardless of merit? You mean this electoral borough chooses its 'representative' in parliament on the basis of what the local lord wants? You call that democracy? You mean that fox hunts can just trample across farmers' lands and destroy their crops and fences and property and the farmers have no recourse? What is wrong with you people? I have noted before that Trollope is particularly interested in institutions--the church is discussed in great length in the Barsetshire novels, and parliament in the Palliser novels--but usually he explores them through the medium of fiction. This book offers a much more explicit commentary on their flaws in the mouth of Mr Gotobed. It would almost be didactic, if not for the fact that we get to see everyone's reactions to Mr Gotobed's remarks, which are extremely funny, and in themselves a commentary on British self-image. These bits of the book are not perhaps as well-integrated thematically with the other plot elements, but I really enjoyed seeing Trollope let loose on the absurdities of English society, politics, and culture.
This was a classic Trollope novel: young women looking for husbands, a Good Girl set as a foil to a quite Becky Sharp-like Bad Girl, various estates and inheritances and lawsuits; and rather more than usual amounts of fox-hunting, even for Trollope. (Indeed,almost every plot point is explored through the structure of a fox hunt.) Thematically, it held together nicely. The Good Girl, Mary Masters, behaves herself as a paragon of female virtue, steadfastly refusing a perfectly nice but slightly vulgar young man with money but little class, because her heart is set on a much more gentlemanly suitor. But, of course, she says nothing because a lady never says anything until a gentleman asks her formally. It's all rather dull, but, fortunately, Trollope livens things up by providing Arabella Trefoil, the Bad Girl. Arabella is all about getting herself a man. She joins us already engaged to one man, but throughout the course of the book we follow her attempts to trade up for a better option, and although she no doubt behaves very badly to her fiance, her character arc evoked an unavoidable sympathy. I don't know if Trollope intended for it to be sympathetic, but given the limitations on women in her position to build a future for themselves, the fact that Arabella is already 30, with rapidly fading attractions, having mastered the art of making herself pleasing and alluring with a businesslike focus, seems not so much a cause for disgust (as Trollope seems to hint) as for pity. The poor woman! This is what she must do with her youth to ward off poverty in middle age! Yes, she is engaged, finally, at the beginning of the book, but she doesn't love the man she is engaged to, and she doesn't have the luxury of waiting to marry for love, as Mary Masters does. Why shouldn't she try to level up? Her shenanigans and boundlessly energetic activities to pull off the better marriage she set her sights on were some of the most entertaining parts of the book, and the eventual fate of both her and her chosen target at the end suggest that Trollope did view her with a certain degree of softness, despite her undeniably bad behavior. I think he does recognize the constraints that bound women of his time and although he can't explicitly condone Arabella's behavior, he can show us how these constraints straiten her options and lead her to behave as she does. Furthermore, her efforts are thematically well aligned with all the fox-hunting the serves as the favorite activity of the various young men involved in Mary and Arabella's matrimonial quests. The men hunt the foxes, and Arabella hunts the men. Nicely done.
The other notable part of this book involved the eponymous American Senator, Mr Gotobed, from the Great Western State of Mickewa. His role is to wander around the events of the plot and make extremely pointed comments about every institution he encounters. You mean clergymen who are responsible for people's souls can just buy a living,or have one bought for them by rich fathers, regardless of merit? You mean this electoral borough chooses its 'representative' in parliament on the basis of what the local lord wants? You call that democracy? You mean that fox hunts can just trample across farmers' lands and destroy their crops and fences and property and the farmers have no recourse? What is wrong with you people? I have noted before that Trollope is particularly interested in institutions--the church is discussed in great length in the Barsetshire novels, and parliament in the Palliser novels--but usually he explores them through the medium of fiction. This book offers a much more explicit commentary on their flaws in the mouth of Mr Gotobed. It would almost be didactic, if not for the fact that we get to see everyone's reactions to Mr Gotobed's remarks, which are extremely funny, and in themselves a commentary on British self-image. These bits of the book are not perhaps as well-integrated thematically with the other plot elements, but I really enjoyed seeing Trollope let loose on the absurdities of English society, politics, and culture.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews