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A review by jobly
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
3.0
Sweet, kindly and naive Septimus Harding is the warden of a hostel of church alms houses, enjoying a simple dotage living with his youngest daughter, Nellie, and tending to the men under his care. When Nellie's paramour, a passionate reformer, decides he is duty-bound to expose the injustice of the well paid sinecure that Harding has been handed by the church the warden's life and assumptions are turned upside down. Romances, friendships and family relationships are put to the test in the ensuing public scandal.
Trollope writes in a surprisingly economical and accessible way for a mid-nineteenth century English novelist. So, if you're generally frustrated by the convoluted syntax and enormous run-on sentences of most of his peers, perhaps this would prove to be a good gateway Victorian novel. Trollope writes in a playful way, echoing the dry observational humour of earlier writers like Austen and gleefully toying with the god-like authorial voice. The result is an enjoyable, pacey read full of warmth and wit.
For all that the narrative is arguably pretty inconsequential beyond the fun surface fizz and cleverly shaped plot. Certainly Trollope is keen to explore key Victorian concerns like the rise of press influence, the role of the Church and the impact of the reform movements of the mid-Victorian era, but none of this explored with any real profundity. I also struggled a little with the conservative position Trollope seems to adopt here. The novel represents reformist ideology and journalism as a kind of wrecking-ball, driven by unthinking zealotry and cynical populism. Given how egregious the social injustices of 19th Century Britain were, Trollope does come across as rather reactionary. I don't want to drop any spoilers here, but look at the final scene with Harding and the old men in the alms houses and you'll get a really good sense of how suspicious Trollope is of change/progress.
Trollope writes in a surprisingly economical and accessible way for a mid-nineteenth century English novelist. So, if you're generally frustrated by the convoluted syntax and enormous run-on sentences of most of his peers, perhaps this would prove to be a good gateway Victorian novel. Trollope writes in a playful way, echoing the dry observational humour of earlier writers like Austen and gleefully toying with the god-like authorial voice. The result is an enjoyable, pacey read full of warmth and wit.
For all that the narrative is arguably pretty inconsequential beyond the fun surface fizz and cleverly shaped plot. Certainly Trollope is keen to explore key Victorian concerns like the rise of press influence, the role of the Church and the impact of the reform movements of the mid-Victorian era, but none of this explored with any real profundity. I also struggled a little with the conservative position Trollope seems to adopt here. The novel represents reformist ideology and journalism as a kind of wrecking-ball, driven by unthinking zealotry and cynical populism. Given how egregious the social injustices of 19th Century Britain were, Trollope does come across as rather reactionary. I don't want to drop any spoilers here, but look at the final scene with Harding and the old men in the alms houses and you'll get a really good sense of how suspicious Trollope is of change/progress.