Chronicles of Barsetshire
The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by the English author Anthony Trollope, set in the fictional English county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester.[1] The novels concern the dealings of the clergy and the gentry, and the political, amatory, and social manœuvrings that go on among and between them. Of the six novels, the last was Trollope's own favourite.[2] Together, the series is regarded by many as Trollope's finest work.[3] It was continued into the twentieth century by Angela Thirkell.
Contents
The novels in the series are:
- The Warden (1855)
- Barchester Towers (1857)
- Doctor Thorne (1858)
- Framley Parsonage (1861)
- The Small House at Allington (1864)
- The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)
Realism or romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne praised the novels for their realism, "as if some giant had hewn a great lump out of the earth and put it under a glass case, with all its inhabitants going about their daily business";[4] – a view widely echoed elsewhere.[5] By the time of the Second World War, however, with the enchantments of distance, they could be read more as romances of the past.[6]
References
- Ousby 1995, p. 61.
- Ousby 1995, p. 531.
- Daiches, D. (Editor) (1971). The Penguin Companion to Literature I. p. 527.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Cowley, M. (Editor) (1978). The Portable Hawthorne. p. 688.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Le Faye, Deidre (Editor) (1996). Jane Austen's Letters.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) pages xiii and xviii.
- Frye, Northrop (1973). Anatomy of Criticism. p. 307.
Bibliography
- Ousby, I, ed. (1995), The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English.