Dear Serial Readers,
One of Trollope's stylistic features is his narrator's addresses to readers--there are many of them even in this first installment. Trollope uses "I" and "we" as if to suggest that the narrator and reader are partners in this telling/hearing of story. The second sentence of the novel begins "Our story...." Much of the first two chapters is exposition, backstory: who are the Dales and why a "small" house at Allington? Trollope delights as much here with establishing his characters ("our Christopher Dale") as places, particularly that titular "Small House."
By the third chapter, I have the decided impression that one character stands out among the rest--Lily Dale, with her "spice of obstinacy" as a hallmark of Trollope's most endearing heroines such as Glencora Palliser or Madame Max. And the narrator is determined that the reader should know at this early stage that "my story will be nothing to him [generic male reader] if he doe not love Lily Dale." What about women readers who love Lily? Aren't they more legion than the presumed men readers? Besides her spicy obstinacy, we learn that she is "queen of the croquet ground" and likes to use slangy vulgar language, much to her more restrained or refined sister Bell's dismay.
Does this portrait of the two Dale sisters living as poorer relations, with their mother, on the Dale estate remind anyone of a Jane Austen novel? But updated--how? Clearly two marriage plots are underway--Bell and Dr Crofts, and then Lily and, well, two possibilities--Johnny Eames and Mr. Crosbie. I couldn't help but think that Lily's complaining about this "mere clerk" may be a telltale sign that she will come to revise this estimation. That there will be more than one suitor also seems evident by the narrator's insistence on the heroes as cut into fragments, with Crosbie as one such "fraction of a hero." Or does this kind of division suggest a different kind of hero, one who is more ordinary than loomingly extraordinary?
Next time, chapters 4-6. After this week, I plan to read on Sundays and post Sundays or Mondays. Looking forward to your comments on this inaugural episode! If you just get your copy, say, next week, you can easily catch up.
Question: If this were a WOVEL (see sidebar item and NPR story), what direction would you like to see the courtship plots take?
Yours in Trollopiana,
Serial Susan
6 comments:
I don't know that I would have thought of the Austen comparison on my own, but now that I've read this post, it seems more and more appropriate -- perhaps with a distinction being that Lily and Isabella Dale don't seem as firmly rooted in their class (since their mother married into it).
The narrative asides and commentaries are, for me, one of the main things that makes Trollope so interesting and enjoyable to read. I love that passage about heroes being parceled out into smaller packages. It's funny, of course, but I think it's also formally interesting (laying the conventional notions of character bare and explicitly revising them in front of the reader) and a revealing guide to how Trollope seems to see people. He's not shy about mentioning faults and recognizing the limitations of his characters, but there's a sympathy and understanding for all of them. That first chapter's description of the Allington history, including the description of the house and church, works in the same way -- a clear-eyed view of their failings balanced with a warm and appreciative view of their strengths. This combination of sympathy and judgment reminds me less of Austen than George Eliot, actually.
Anybody know how this fits in with the other Barsetshire novels? I've read The Warden and Barchester Towers, but not the next two (the ones preceding this novel), so I don't know if there's anything I'm missing that I should know about. It certainly hasn't hampered my enjoyment of this one so far.
I wanted to comment on Josh's final question about SMALL HOUSE in the Barsetshire series. I also have not read all four of the previous novels. But I know that each serial can stand alone too for first-time readers. For the faithfully regular reader there are rewards galore with character links within and between the two major Trollope series (the "Barsetshire" and the "Palliser" novels--although the first in the latter series hadn't yet appeared in 1862). I do like the Oxford editions of Trollope because there are "Who's Who" indexes at the back that provide references to other novels. But beware! More than once when turning to this index I've stumbled on a plot detail (especially around marriage) that spoiled the suspense of the current novel (for those of you who read avidly for suspense).
I did peep at the "Who's Who" on Lily, and it looks like she's new with her Trollopian debut in this novel, but she does appear again in the next and last in this series--THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET.
I really enjoyed these chapters. I absolutely love how Trollope shifts between the general and the particular, the large and the small - especially in terms of the novel form. As Josh says, he notes the concept of a hero, but then indicates this novel will fragment its hero. Also, his construction of the novel as a whole seems to be dependent on the smaller fragments of the chapters. He uses the breaks to add emphasis and create suspense, for instance, "So much it was needful that I should say of Allington Great House, of the Squire, and of the village. Of the Small House, I will speak separately in a further chapter."
My favorite aspect of the novel, though, is the tension between constancy and change. We learn that the Dales are constant - "an invisible magnetism . . . dragging him forward to a line in advance of that on which his father had trodden" and yet, Lily's predilection for slang - "It's so slow, you know, to use nothing but words out of a dictionary" shows that in subtle ways, on the level of language, at least, change persists.
January 11, 2009
Disclaimer:
I am not an academic. As a professional, I had many years of study, but not a single literature course. In retirement I was privileged to audit courses in Victorian Literature with a wonderful professor. My only exposure to Trollope was “The Pallisers” on Masterpiece Theater, after which I purchased all of the Palliser novels, but only read two. I did read our current novel with pleasure many years ago.
Having made this disclaimer, I can now presume to post comments, knowing that you will be gentle and understanding!
Trollope is a delight to read. He is such an interesting and intrusive narrator, giving us his personal thought and comments so often. This feature, so common in Victorian Novels, is one reason that making movies of them loses so much. He draws his character so well and with such personal interest, and often affection, that we immediately feel that we know them. Lily is, as planned, a delight.
Chapters one and two were so crammed with basic information that I had to re-read them. The third chapter was my favorite. It was written beautifully and with such warmth and feeling for Mrs. Dale. The unusual situation Mrs. Dale and her daughters have to deal with is yet another example of the severe Victorian restrictions on the lives and opportunities of women.
You asked about a similarity to Jane Austen. It was not one of my favorites, ”Sense and Sensibility”. I haven’t re-read it recently and can’t compare the two novels yet.
My copy has no table of contents and no index, so I am going to write down the chapter titles and page numbers so I can find my way back. This is my first experience with serial reading, it’s different, and going to be great fun. Many thanks.
Burt
bdldoc@aol.com
I don't have much to add but I must respond that I was very much reminded of Austen in the opening chapters, specifically the scenes of those marriageable/ must-be-married-off-beneficially young ladies. This locus of concern is so different from Dickens (at least in early chapters of his novels).
The passage I found most affecting was the one about the widowed mother forced to hold back and be alone. Such a person is usually invisible and unconsidered in such novels. I look forward to seeing the development of a character who is usually mere background or cardboard, and I hope to see an exploration of her special concerns.
--Maura
I'm sympathetic with Burt, not having read many Victorian novels, but this one is intriguing. I've never read Jane Austen, but from my vague familiarity with her the comparison to this Trollope work is striking me well enough. I come from just putting down a Stendahl tragedy, and, not normally a Victorian sympathizer, I'm already hooked (involuntarily). Bah! Okay, Trollope has a way, like Austen (from what I've heard), of setting and mapping that makes one charmed by a society otherwise easily scorned. I think this is a real talent--I don't read on because I want to be torn inside, as with Dickens (whom I adore), or vaguely entertained, but because, well, this Trollope narrative is charming and light in its comedy. To wit, Victorian's had real problems, but Trollope takes you by the hand and, with all sincerity, walks you into the drawing room of life and declares "love us!" The best works of art are the serious works that nevertheless make you laugh at heart. Well, with these well-described two Great and Small houses (one still to be described), the stage is set to display, despite that caste stuff which tore society in two, the reasons, great and small, why the Victorians are so memorable to posterity. I note especially the caste-enforced separateness between Dale of the Great house and his sister-in-law of the Small house. Something tells me those two are going to know each other better as the novel moves along, and we will all laugh and love them for it.
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