The Last Chronicle of Barset

The Last Chronicle of Barset is the final, longest (862 pages) and best of the Barset novels of Anthony Trollope (1815-1882). The novels comprising the clerical series are: The Warden; Barchester Towers; Doctor Thorne; Framley Parsonage; The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset. This novel was written and published serially in 1866-1867. It is a massive three decker in the Victorian style. The prolific Trollope authored over 40 novels, short-stories and travel accounts in his storied career. The Last Chronicle of Barset has several characters and stories any one of which could have made a full fledged novel in itself! The main players are: Josiah Crawley-The eccentric pastor of the poor Hogglestock bricklayer parish is accused of stealing a check for 20 pounds. Lawyer Mr. Toogood, the Grantleys and Lady Lufton seek to win him acquittal. We see this gloomy man put his wife Mary and daughters Grace and Jane through the purgatory of suffering and dread as his case is due to be brought up before the assizes. Crawley is one of the most interesting characters in all of Trollope's voluminous writing. Several love stories are reported: a. Johnny Eames still loves Lily Dale. Lily jilted him for the rake Adolphus Cosbie seven years previous to the opening of the novel. Johnny has a good job in London but Lily still says no. Will she marry Johnny or will she wed Adolphus? Or will she write two letters after her name "OM" for Old Maid? Read the novel and see! b. Major Henry Grantley is the son of archdeacon Grantley. He is widowed with a small daughter. Henry falls in love with the intelligent and beautiful Grace Crawley daughter of the accused thief the Rev. Josiah Crawley. Will true love conquer? c. The London artist Conway Dalrymple is torn between a married woman and Miss Van Siever. Whom will he choose as his life's companion? This story has little to do with the action in Barsetshire and was added by Trollope to fulfill his contract for so many pages per month to a periodical. In addition to the mystery regarding the theft of the check and the usual Trollopian love stories there are two key deaths of major characters in the Barset series: a. The Rev. Septimus Harding-the aged fathere of Eleanor Arabin the dean's wife and Susan Harding the spouse of the archedeacon of Barset. Mr. Harding is one of the kindest men seen in the pages of English fiction. b. Mrs. Proudie-the busybody, interfering, harridan who has made her husband her uxorious tool dies of a heart attack in this final volume. She is one of the best comical characters in fiction. There is also a suicide of a minor character Mr. Broughton. I have read these Barset novels for many years and they are eminently worthy of rereading! Countless hours of pleasure and profitable wisdom await those who have the time and patience to devote to a huge Victorian novel. I was touched by Trollope's final paragraphs in which he bids adieu to Barset and the characters he so lovingl

As time passes, the novels of Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) seem to gain in freshness, stature and influence. He lived long enough to see his modest reputation fade, in contrast to that of many of his famous novelist contemporaries. Nowadays the situation seems to be reversing. Of special merit, amongst his huge output, are the so-called Barsetshire ("clerical") novels, and the so-called Palliser ("political") novels. Of the former, the last and longest is "The Last Chronicle of Barset". Not only are there fresh concerns, complications and current affairs introduced here, but there are also fond and final appearances of people and places encountered in the earlier Barsetshire novels. Everybody's favourite literary virago, Mrs Proudie, is again denouncing and dominating everybody. Trollope even contrives to create a character who has the temerity to say to her, "Peace, Woman!" There are the innumerable characters of marriageable age, whose names are perhaps more memorable than their characters, whose charming dialogues and relationship problems are deftly laid out and interwoven. Above all, there is master story-teller Anthony Trollope, admitting finally that for him Barset has been a real place, a place where he as been induced to wander too long by his "love of old friendships, and by the sweetness of old faces". Superb TV and radio adaptations of Trollope's Barsetshire novels have appeared in recent years. His novels read aloud well, too, and audio cassette readings, some of them unabridged, can provide endless hours of rich listening pleasure.

THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET is one of the great novels in the English language, and yet it is not widely read. The reason for this is obvious: it is the LAST novel in the Barsetshire series of novels, and a relatively small number make it all the way through the previous five volumes. This is a shame, because while all the previous novels are quite excellent and thoroughly entertaining, the final novel in the series is a work of an entirely different level of magnitude.This novel is also one of the darkest that Trollope wrote. The moral dilemma in which Crawley finds himself would seem to belong more readily to the world of Dostoevsky than Victorian England. Can this novel be read on its own, without reading the novels that precede it? Yes, but I do feel that it is best read after working through the other books in the series first. This is hardly an unfortunate situation, since all the books in the series are superb (with the exception of the first novel, THE WARDEN, which, while nice, is merely a prelude to the far superior five novels that came after it). Many of the characters in THE LAST CHRONICLE appeared first as characters in the other novels, and the central character of the book, Crawley, himself appeared earlier. Trollope is...one of the most entertaining writers the English language has produced. At this point I have read around 20 of his novels, and fully intend to read more. But of all his books, this one might be his finest. The only two that I feel are close to the same level are his incredible books THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT (possibly the finest work on excessive jealousy since OTHELLO). Anyone who loves the English novel owes it to him or herself to read as many of these volumes as possible. My recommendation would be to read first the six novels in the Barsetshire Chronicles, and then to move on to the other two novels I mentioned. If still hooked, then try his other major series of novels, variously known as the Political novels or the Palliser novels or the Parliamentary novels, which begin with CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?

How one man could hold in his mind so much of his age, and then relate it back to us peopled with so many and varied characters in--how many? 20?-- interconnected novels of surpassing richness of detail and sagacity of moral observation, is a great mystery of human psychology."The Last Chronicle of Barset" is surely one of the most successful and satisfying of the whole Barset and Palliser series, illustrating perhaps better than any of the former Trollope's admirable gift for creating multi-dimensional characters that are as recognizable to us today as they were in his time.

The Rev. Josiah Crawley, impoverished curate of Hogglestock, has been accused of stealing a check for 20 pounds. Confused about how the check came into his possession, he has no defense to offer. Mrs. Proudie, shrewish tyrant over her husband, the Bishop, is determined to hound Crawley out of his meager position. Also caught up in the problem is young Henry Grantly, son of the aristocratic Archdeacon, who is in love with the beautiful and intelligent daughter of the accused man--a match that his father bitterly opposes.This is the main plot, but there is a wealth of subplots, each worthy of its own novel. Among these is a continuation of John Eames' wooing of Lily Dale, carried over from "The Small House at Allington."The Last Chronicle is the longest of the Barsetshire novels--and the best, considerably better in style than the more popular "Barchester Towers." Trollope's characterizations are, as usual, superb, among the very best in all literature. He skillfully interweaves all the various strands of the novel into a very satisfying whole. And he has largely freed himself from the sometimes annoying philosophical asides to the reader that detracted from some of his earlier novels. This book merits consideration as a true masterwork.