I have reached a place in my reading life where I am trying to fill-in some gaps. Reading some of the classic writers and books deemed important or foundational that I have not yet got around to reading.

Anthony Trollope is one such writer. After his death, Henry James, who was not always a fan, wrote the following in an essay about Trollope:

[HIS} great, his inestimable merit was a complete appreciation of the usual. … [H]e felt all daily and immediate things as well as saw them; felt them in a simple, direct, salubrious way, with their sadness, their gladness, their charm, their comicality, all their obvious and measurable meanings. … Trollope will remain one of the most trustworthy, though not one of the most eloquent, of the writers who have helped the heart of man to know itself. … A race is fortunate when it has a good deal of the sort of imagination—of imaginative feeling—that had fallen to the share of Anthony Trollope; and in this possession our English race is not poor.”

Virginia Woolf, however, was a big fan of Trollope. She admired Trollope for providing ‘the same sort of refreshment and delight that we get from seeing something actually happen in the street below’, and she admired his ability to convey both the ‘moments of non-being’ that are life as lived, and the ‘moments of being’ that are life remembered.

Barchester Towers centers around the fictional cathedral city of Barchester, where the death of the beloved bishop sets the stage for a power struggle. The expected successor, Archdeacon Grantly, is sidelined when the new Prime Minister appoints the more Evangelical Bishop Proudie. Mrs. Proudie, a domineering figure, wields significant influence over her husband, leading to unpopular decisions like the dismissal of the well-liked Mr. Septimus Harding.

The arrival of the bishop’s chaplain, the sycophantic Mr. Slope, further complicates matters. Slope’s schemes involve marrying Harding’s wealthy daughter, Eleanor Bold, and manipulating the wardenship controversy for his own gain. Meanwhile, the return of the eccentric Dr. Stanhope and his family, particularly his captivating daughter, Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni, adds intrigue and disruption to the close-knit community. As tensions rise, the Reverend Francis Arabin, a brilliant scholar, is drawn into the conflict. A series of misunderstandings and miscommunications lead to a series of proposals, rejections, and revelations.

I recently completed Barchester Towers. The experience is very much as Woolf said, like “seeing something actually happen in the street below.” I can see why it appealed to her in particular..

The most interesting feature is the narrative style which features: frequent authorial intrusion with humorous opinionated asides, and even debates about the form of the novel within the story. It is this narrative style that gives it the “theatrical feel” that Woolf so appreciated.

If you are interested in the history and development of the novel form, exploring narrative styles, or if you are a fan of Virginia Woolf, I would recommend giving Barchester Towers a try.

Barchester Towers is in the Public Domain. Here is a link to it at Gutenberg.