Barchester Towers

by Anthony Trollope

Overview

One of the most enduringly popular novelists of the Victorian era, English writer ANTHONY TROLLOPE (1815-1882) created entertainingly rambling fictional explorations of towering social issues, from class and money to politics and gender roles. Trollope has been a huge influence on modern storytelling, from the bumblings of the upper-crust of P.G Wodehouse's yarns to the intricate, interwoven, interpersonal narratives of television soap operas. Barchester Towers, first published in 1857, is Part II of Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire, a series of six novels set in the invented county of Barsetshire. When the beloved bishop of the cathedral town of Barchester dies, social intrigue develops over who will ascend to his position: will it be Archdeacon Grantly-whom the great 20th-century English novelist Hugh Walpole deemed one of "the great figures in English fiction"-or will it be a politically connected newcomer to the town? Expansive, addictive reading, this prototypical Trollope novel is a rousing tale of a not-so-genteel battle for social dominance that reminds us-in the most pleasurable manner-that bullies and tyrants are found even in the most rarefied of circles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616401849
Publisher:	Cosimo Classics
Publication date:	05/01/2010
Series:	Chronicles of Barsetshire , #2
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He is the editor of numerous works in World's Classics and is Associate Editor of the Oxford Popular Fiction series.

Sutherland's latest book, Is Heathcliff a Murderer?, in which he investigates 34 puzzles in nineteenth-century fiction, is to be published in World's Classics in April 1996.

Table of Contents

I. Who Will Be the New Bishop?
II. Hiram's Hospital, According to an Act of Parliament
III. Dr. and Mrs. Proudie
IV. The Bishop's Chaplain
V. A Morning Visit
VI. War
VII. The Dean and Chapter Take Counsel
VIII. The Ex-Warden Rejoices in His Probable Return to the Hospital
IX. The Stanhope Family
X. Mrs. Proudie's Reception—Commences
XII. Slope versus Harding
XIII. The Rubbish Cart
XIV. The New Champion
XV. The Widow's Suitors
XVI. Baby Worship
XVII. Who Shall be Cock of the Walk?
XVIII. The Widow's Persecution
XIX. Barchester by Moonlight
XX. Mr. Arabin
XXI. St. Ewold's Parsonage
XXII. The Thorns of Ullathorne
XXIII. Mr. Asrabinn Reads Himself in at St. Ewold's
XXIV. Mr. Slopes Manages Very Cleverly at Puddingdale
XXV. Fourteen Arguments in Favour of Mr. Quiverful's Claims
XXVI. Mrs. Proudie Wrestles and Gets a Fall
XXVII. A Love Scene
XXVIII. Mrs. Bold is Entertained by Dr. and Mrs. Grantly at Plumstead
XXIX. A Serious Interview
XXX. Another Love Scene
XXXI. The Bishop's Library
XXII. A New Candidate for Ecclesiastical Honours
XXXIII. Mrs. Proudie Victrix
XXXIV. Oxford—The Master and the Tutor of Lazarus
XXXV. Miss Thorne's Fete Champerte
XXXVI. Ullathorne Sports—Act I
XXXVII. The Countess De Courcy, Mrs. Proudie, and the Signora Neroni Meet Each Other at Ullathorne
XXXVIII. The Bishop Sits Down to Breakfast, and the Dean Dies
XXXIX The Lookalofts and the Greenacres
XL. Ullathorne Sports—Act II
XLII. Ullathorne Sports—Act III
XLIII. Mr. and Mrs. Quiverful are Made Happy. Mr. Slope is Encouraged by the Press
XLIV. Mrs. Bold at Home
XLV. The Stanhopes at Home
XLVI. Mr. Slope's Parting Interview with the Signora
XLVII The Dean Elect
XLVIII Miss Thorne Shows her Talent at Match-making
XLIX. The Beelzebub Colt
L. The Archdeacon is Satisfied with the State of Affairs
LI. Mr. Slope Bids Farewell to the Palace and its Inhabitants
LII. The New Dean Takes Possession of the Deanery, and the New Warden of the Hospital
LIII. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Narrator Timothy West has the technique, versatility, and sense of place to give a fine, idiomatic performance, but not quite the strength of personality to make us give a hoot about the characters and their concerns.”

AudioFile

"There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel."

― Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

"Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower."

― Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

"Considering how much we are all given to discuss the characters of others, and discuss them often not in the strictest spirit of charity, it is singular how little we are inclined to think that others can speak ill-naturedly of us, and how angry and hurt we are when proof reaches us that they have done so. It is hardly too much to say that we all of us occasionally speak of our dearest friends in a manner in which those dearest friends would very little like to hear themselves mentioned, and that we nevertheless expect that our dearest friends shall invariably speak of us as though they were blind to all our faults, but keenly alive to every shade of our virtues."

― Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers

From the Publisher

The second and best of the prolific author’s six novels about the fictional Barsetshire satirizes ecclesiastical politics in rural Victorian Britain. Among the many superbly drawn characters, the risibly overbearing Mrs. Proudie and the feckless Ethelbert Stanhope particularly shine. Some of us may even recognize the central conflict from our own experiences as congregants. Trollope once said, “In the writing of BARCHESTER TOWERS, I took great delight.” The listener gathers that, in the reading of it, Simon Vance also takes great delight. Obviously, he relishes impersonating the dramatis personae. One gets the impression that the more, the merrier, as far as he’s concerned. In addition, he delivers the fustian narrative with particular fluidity, verve, and grace. Y.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 07 - AudioFile