The Warden (Penguin Classics)

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Trollope returned to Australia in 1875 to help his son close down his failed farming business. He found that the resentment created by his accusations of bragging remained. Even when he died in 1882, Australian papers still "smouldered", referring yet again to these accusations, and refusing to fully praise or recognize his achievements. [56] Harding asks Dr Grantly what he thinks about it all. Dr Grantly warns Harding that John is a loose cannon and a troublemaker. Harding’s doing nothing wrong, and he must stand his ground or else risk his whole reputation. Dr Grantly’s confidence in him gives Harding the self-assurance to stand up to John. Trollope, Anthony (2014) [1867]. Small, Helen (ed.). The Last Chronicle of Barset. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199675999.

Like other Victorian realists, Trollope sought to portray people as complex “mixed” characters, with good, bad, and indifferent characteristics all mixed in. As a result, we never completely hate even the more dislikable characters in Trollope. Trollope’s Genial Narrator in Action While The Warden was intended as a one-off work, [3] Trollope returned to Barsetshire for the setting of its sequel Barchester Towers. [3] It was published in 1857, again by Longman, finding a similar level of success to its predecessor. [22] The Warden‘s cast of characters includes, of course, Mr. Harding himself, as well as Archdeacon Grantly, his assertive authoritative son-in-law with a high church position; Eleanor Bold, Mr. Harding’s young unmarried daughter, a lady with a loving heart but a fine sense of justice; and John Bold, the young Barchester physician who hankers to reform all injustice wherever he finds it–as well as to marry Mr. Harding’s daughter. As trends in the world of the novel moved increasingly towards subjectivity and artistic experimentation, Trollope's standing with critics suffered. But Lord David Cecil noted in 1934 that "Trollope is still very much alive ... and among fastidious readers." He noted that Trollope was "conspicuously free from the most characteristic Victorian faults". [72] In the 1940s, Trollopians made further attempts to resurrect his reputation; he enjoyed a critical renaissance in the 1960s, and again in the 1990s. Some critics today have a particular interest in Trollope's portrayal of women—he caused remark even in his own day for his deep insight and sensitivity to the inner conflicts caused by the position of women in Victorian society. [73] [74] [75] [76] [77]a b Edwards, Owen Dudley. "Anthony Trollope, the Irish Writer. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 38, No. 1 (June 1983), p. 1 Sir Abraham listened and looked in wonder. As he had never before seen Mr. Harding, the meaning of these wild gesticulations was lost upon him; but he perceived that the gentleman who had a few minutes since been so subdued as to be unable to speak without hesitation, was now impassioned — nay, almost violent. John Bold, the brave young reformer, gets a treatment similar to these other characters. The narrator shows clearly that he has admirable qualities, but Mr. Bold is hardly a perfect individual: Garnett, Richard (1899). "Trollope, Anthony". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.57. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp.238–242. The tranquil atmosphere of the cathedral town of Barchester is shattered when a scandal breaks concerning the financial affairs of a Church-run almshouse for elderly men. In the ensuing furore, Septimus Harding, the almshouse's well-meaning warden, finds himself pitted against his daughter's suitor Dr John Bold, a zealous local reformer. Matters are not improved when Harding's abrasive son-in law, Archdeacon Grantly, leaps into the fray to defend him against a campaign Bold begins in the national press. An affectionate and wittily satirical view of the workings of the Church of England, The Warden is also a subtle exploration of the rights and wrongs of moral crusades and, in its account of Harding's intensely felt personal drama, a moving depiction of the private impact of public affairs.

A series was not planned when Trollope began writing The Warden. [3] Rather, after creating Barsetshire, he found himself returning to it as the setting for his following works. [3] It was not until 1878, 11 years after The Last Chronicle of Barset, that these six novels were collectively published as the Chronicles of Barset. When Eleanor sees how unhappy the whole affair has made her father, she begs him to resign. She also goes to John Bold and begs him to give up the suit. After promising to do anything he can for her, Bold declares his love. Eleanor, who had not meant to let matters go so far, confesses that she loves him in return. removed this disability, and he almost immediately began seeking a seat for which he might stand. [44] In 1868, he agreed to stand as a Liberal candidate in the borough of Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. [45] Lee, Sidney (1901). "Memoir of George Smith". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.Both friends and enemies alike urge him to stay where he is, but he cannot live with the thought that the money which provides his generous income might rightly belong to the twelve paupers whose care is his raison d’etre as warden. It is as if Trollope can only see as far as ‘characters’– the tender hearted warden and the arrogant archdeacon – and is not interested in probing the causes of the social problems that make up his story. Neither is the chain of responsibility for the administration of the will examined, and the roles of the bishop, archdeacon, warden, and steward are all left at the level of friendships and family connections. Trollope, Anthony (2014) [1860]. Mullin, Katherine; O'Gorman, Francis (eds.). Framely Parsonage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199663156. Allen, W. (1991) [1954]. The English Novel, London: Penguin, in Pérez Pérez, Miguel Ángel (1999). "The Un-Trollopian Trollope: Some Notes on the Barsetshire Novels". Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingles. 12: 127–142 – via RUA. Lewis, Monica C. (2010). "Anthony Trollope and the Voicing of Victorian Fiction," Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 65, No. 2, p. 141.