I’ve decided that on Mondays I’m going to revisit the books I read for a course in college called Advanced Reading Survey, taught by the eminent scholar and lovable professor, Dr. Huff. I’m not going to re-read all the books and poems I read for that course, probably more than fifty, but I am going to post to Semicolon the entries in the reading journal that I was required to keep for that class because I think that my entries on these works of literature may be of interest to readers here and because I’m afraid that the thirty year old spiral notebook in which I wrote these entries may fall apart ere long. I may offer my more mature perspective on the books, too, if I remember enough about them to do so.

Author: As Anthony Trollope’s mother, Frances, and his older brother were both writers, Trollope was following in a well-established family tradition when he bagan writing novels. Barchester Towers is the second novel in a group of six on the theme of clerical life in Victorian England.
“Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic.” — W. H. Auden

Characters:
Dr. Proudie: newly appointed bishop of Barchester.
Mrs. Proudie
Dr. Grantly: archdeacon.
Mr. Slope: Dr. Proudie’s chaplain.
Eleanor Bold: a young widow.
Mr. Septimus Harding: Mrs. Bold’s father.
Charlotte Stanhope
Bertie Stanhope
La Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni
Mr. Arabin

Summary:
Bishop Proudie and his unpopular and managing wife are the new occupants of the see of Barchester. As Mrs. Proudie interferes in almost all the cathedral affairs, the bishop’s chaplain, Mr. Slope, makes himself disliked by his pursuit of Eleanor Bold, a wealthy young widow and daughter of Mr. Harding, the warden of the hospital and hero of Trollope’s previous novel, The Warden. Church politics rule the day, until all misunderstandings and double dealings are unravelled, and romance wins out in the end.

Quotations:
“Till we can become divine we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for a change we sink to something lower.”

Mr. Arabin: “It is the bane of my life that on important subjects I acquire no fixed opinion. I think, and think, and go on thinking, and yet my thoughts are running ever in different directions.”

“There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.”

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

I do think I need to read more Trollope.

Bonnie reviews Barchester Towers.
Becky’s Book Reviews on Barchester Towers.
Between the Covers: Barchester Towers A-
Carol at Magistramater.