Dear Serial Readers,
So these three chapters make up installment #8 (of 20). We're approaching the midpoint as the marriage plotting continues to multiply. At least, Crosbie in this installment commits engagement bigamy, yet we're told in no uncertain terms that while Crosbie can jilt Lily, he "could not jilt Lady Alexandrina De Courcy." Jilting is a particular topic for Trollope; in Can You Forgive Her? the title's question pertains to women jilters about whom Trollope does generate robust sympathy. I can't say quite the same for Crosbie, however, despite the fact that the narrator goes to some pains to disabuse us of the notion that he's merely a melodramatic villain. I suppose the Millais illustration (see sidebar) captures one reader's sense of Crosbie's anguish over his foolishness with both women, and this segment ends with Crosbie's confused regret over this Courcy Castle episode.
More to the point, how and when will Lily respond to this jilting? While Crosbie's Apollonian character seems to diminish with this turn of events, I suspect Lily's will develop under her impending change of fortunes. Part of the problem with Crosbie is that Alexandrina's temptations seem so slight--the social status and money prospects are not presented with much gusto here. Perhaps Trollope is pushing his characters and readers to revise their understanding of "fortune."
The true pleasure for me in this installment was the debut of Plantagenet (later aka "Planty") Palliser. Presumably Trollope is already speculating on his next serial, Can You Forgive Her?, which begins to appear the following year 1864. This serial also launches another series of (eventually) six delectable novels, "the Palliser series." So chapter 23 in Small House, the penultimate novel in the "Barsetshire Chronicles" series, is also the germ of a new series. Such layered intertextuality! And for those of you who have no knowledge of Planty (as of course original readers of this serial also did not have), I assure you that if ever there were a more inauspicious debut for a character who becomes the nucleus of some incredibly appetizing plot lines and characters, I don't know it!
Next week, #9, chaps. 25-25.
And with these Series Speculations,
I remain,
Serial Susan
3 comments:
I read Can He Forgive Her? years ago and I actually really enjoyed it, but I don't remember Planty. I did just realize I have 3 Palliser novels on the shelf in my office, inherited from a past colleague, and now I'm eager to read them. So, yes, Planty's introduction is fun and hints at importance, but it's a low-key intro.
I was relieved in a way to have Crosbie make his big Mistake for Alexandrina, and I found him about as sympathetic as someone could be in such a position. I like that the narrator seems so certain (without saying so) that Crosbie would have been much happier with Lily: Alexandrina does not go out to watch him go but just says goodby at the breakfast table, quite late in the morning.
Meanwhile, Eames gets more and more likable, as does his potential patron.
I am eager for Lily to get the news and start moving on. But as I always say, lots can still happen . . . .
I wonder why people drop off from writing--perhaps it's hard for us to read at this speed. I know it's hard for me. I want to read in larger segments; perhaps some want to read more slowly.
Oops! I see I wrote about something from Chapter 25; in my book it was on the same page as the end of chapter 24 and I read to the bottom of the page. Looking again at the end of chapter 24, I realized that one more thing I liked in this section was how much it changed my view of Lady Julia. I wonder whether it will change her attitude toward the Dales at all that she has had to defend them from these shallow de Courcy's and that evil (to her mind) Crosbie.
Another artist I am reminded of in this section is Oliver Hardy (or was it Stan Laurel?) and the immortal tagline: "that's another fine mess you've gotten us into!"
I find the sympathy expressed for Crosbie in the Millais illustration surprising. Sure, Crosbie implies that he'd rather have stuck with Lilly, and Alexandrina's daddy is pretty threatening, but, so what? He's gotten himself into this position not from an excess of love or even lust but from base ambition. And, just as he mistakenly assumed he'd get some cash with Lilly, his presumptions about the side benefits of marriage with Alexandrina seem like them might have been, well, presumptuous.
I agree that Aunt Julia has been a jewel in this section. And it's wonderful how her fondness and feelings of attachment for Lilly grow as she sees the girl's prospects dim. Of course, her presence on the scene is what makes Crosbie's "bigamy" so remarkable. She makes it impossible for him to get away with this duplicity in either direction. How does he find it such an easy thing to do?
An idea from a previous section that I liked was in the description of Alexandrina's appearance. I forget if Trollope described her as beautiful or just very pretty. But, despite her attractiveness, she is a woman whose face you could never call up in your memory. A forgettable beauty. I love what this says about her--she's nothing really, she's not really there. This emptiness I think is echoed in her lack of presence at Crosbie's departure; so unlike the very real very present Lilly.
A legal question that floats throughout the Crosbie plots and the Eames-Roper plot is the threat of a breach of promise action. Such actions were brought even in the US as late as the early 20th century. Eames seems to see that as a real threat (I doubt it is), while Crosbie seems pretty cavalier about it. I think daddy's threat goes to this--Lilly won't ever sue you but we will and we'll ruin you too! It's surprising that a father would allow a match with a man who deserved such a threat at the very beginning of the betrothal. Of course, you take what you can get when you've got a daughter as long in the tooth as Alexandrina (about the same age as Amelia, I think?).
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