What do You think about The Last Chronicle Of Barset (2002)?
The Warden and The Last Chronicle of Barset make perfect bookends to The Chronicles of Barsetshire. Both focus on a clergyman facing difficult legal circumstances, and on the daughters of those men and the marriage prospects of those daughters. Trollope does in The Last Chronicle what he also did so insightfully in The Warden: a study of character under pressure. In The Warden, Dr. Harding is a mild-mannered, humble, moral man, who struggles between what his conscience tells him is right and what friends and family want him to do. In The Last Chronicle, Mr. Crawley is a over-sensitive, proud, moral man who struggles between what his self-respect will let him do and the pressure to behave as other men do. Interestingly, both make similar choices; but they arrive at those choices by very different lines of thought. The daughters of these men are also a study in contrast. In The Warden, Eleanor is a strong-willed, proud beauty, very loyal to her father. She faces reduced circumstances, but might marry a well-off man, if only he can come around to her point of view. In The Last Chronicle, Grace is a humble, dutiful beauty, very devoted to her father and family. Though in reduced circumstances, she might marry a well-off man, if only her father's name can be cleared and he can stick with her against his family's wishes. In both cases, the daughters reach similar romantic ends, but face different obstacles along the way (internally as well as externally). Altogether, The Last Chronicle of Barset is an extremely satisfying conclusion to the series. Trollope wraps up all his loose ends, and tells a "d-----" good story (as they'd print in the day).
—Jean
When I was at uni and we were due to study this period of English Literature, we discovered that our lecturer loved poetry and must have known nothing about the Victorian novel. We analysed poems in great detail, and he then allocated a novel to each student. We had to write an essay and give a presentation to the class, whilst he did... nothing. Needless to say, attendance got pretty low.We reacted with great drama to our allocated novels. I recall a boy being smug because he got Moll Flanders. Thomas Hardy drove a friend of mine to the verge of desperation. And of course, I will never forget mine, A Journal of the Plague Year.Was Trollope allocated to anyone? I have always associated this author with stories of Anglican clergymen, without actually having read any of his works. Stories with priests have a very different feel -certainly saucier- in Catholic Spanish literature. Where is the fun in a priest who is allowed to marry? La Regenta is the outstanding example of these love stories between posh ladies and ambitious priests, full of guilt, secrecy and sexual tension. None of that here. It feels almost like Jane Austen and in that regard it has been very good. At the start a clergyman is accused of stealing a cheque. He claims it came from a good friend of his, but he denies it and as a result he is put on trial in front of the Magistrates. Everybody, eventually, seems to think that he is guilty, but they excuse him because he is forgetful and excentric, but also devoted to the poor in his parish. This is the main force driving the plot, but there are also a couple of "love stories", mainly Grace's, his daughter, who declines an offer of marriage because of her father's "troubles". Grace is depicted as honourable because she refuses to bring disgrace into the family of the man she loves.The typically British preoccupation with class is everywhere in this novel. The protagonist is heavily in debt because his earnings as a priest do not allow him to support his family. It is inferred that most clergymen have that very vague thing, "a private income". Only recently, in Our Spoons Came from Woolworths, a character believes that only men with a "private income" should have children: a job is not enough, as it is uncertain. Is Trollope trying to denounce the fact that Anglican priests are paid so badly?For me, it is mainly a story about pride -honour, perhaps, for Trollope. At points it feels like every single character is too proud to give way and make allowances. The protagonist, Grace, the Major, his father, Lily Dale, her suitor and so on, they all refuse to compromise and could be thought of as stubborn. In the end it is all well, but this trait is not all that loable, in my view.Ah, I enjoyed the humour presented by diva Miss Demolines in her manipulation of John Eames, who had -literally- a lucky escape.
—Laura
Having just finished "The Last Chronicle of Barset", the concluding sixth volume to Trollope´s Barsetshire cycle, I stand in awe at the skill of the novelist. The book is much bleaker than the preceding five. Here, the intimations of mortality, failure and dishonor are everywhere, and they often portend evil for the characters. I hesitated at writing the word "characters", because having known them through thousands of pages, having lived through their perils, triumphs and defeats, I feel as if thou I had personally known them. Archdeacon Teophilus Grantly, Lady Lufton, Rev. Josiah Crawley, Bishop Proudey and his formidable wife, the Rev. Septimus Harding (one of the most endearing characters in literature), Dr. Thorne and his wife, Mr Thorne of Ullathorne and his sister, the terrible DeCourcys and so many, many more. It is truly a kaleidoscope of small town clerical life in early to mid-Victorian England. We see the characters grow, get married and die, like in real life. Although Dickens has always been thought to be a far greater author than Trollope, Dickens never did author a cycle that along with some duds (particularly "Dr. Thorne") includes real gems (particularly "Barchester Towers", "The Small House at Allington" and "The Last Chronicle of Barset"). People differ about "The Warden". While slighter than the rest in the cycle, it began it and thus must be loved. Trollope's dialogues sparkle, particularly between men and women or in the context of social gatherings. He perfectly captures the lightness that often masks wickedness in such interactions. With a heavy heart I leave my friends of Barsetshire. I now will move on to the Palliser novels, of which I hope to give an account in these pages.
—Antonio Nunez
