The title is the first sign of trouble. Phineas Redux (1873-4) is the first true sequel in Anthony Trollope’s Palliser series, and perhaps his first true sequel ever, certain portions of the later Barchester books aside. Most of the plotlines successfully resolved in Phineas Finn (1867-8) are now dissolved, stirred back into the pot to be re-resolved, along with another plot from the intervening The Eustace Diamonds (1871-3) the resolution of which was impossible to believe. I knew Lizzie Eustace would be back. Like Glencora Palliser, she is too much fun. As a character, Phineas Finn is less fun; as a novel, Phineas Redux is less fun.
For 150 pages, maybe 200, Phineas Redux was the most slack, the most minor, Trollope novel I have read, although it is only my eleventh – but eleven is a lot, right, with most novelists I could make confident generalization, while with Trollope and the other forty novels out there I can only guess. Some of them must be slack to the point of immobility.
By slack, I mean that a novel-length portion of the 880 page novel is spent rearranging and reinflating the characters, who in this analogy are not marionettes, as I usually describe fictional characters, but balloons, apparently. The fox hunting scene, obligatory in late Trollope, is introduced almost immediately, but even it seems perfunctory. Around page 100 there is an actual scene, what a relief, in which the central balloon takes on flesh at a miser’s dinner:
There was some very hot sherry, but not much of it. And there was a bottle of claret, as to which Phineas, who was not usually particular in the matter of wine, persisted in declining to have anything to do with it after the first attempt… He played with his fish without thinking much about it. He worked manfully at the steak. He gave another crumple to the tart, and left it without a pang. But when the old man urged him, for the third time, to take that pernicious draught with his cheese, he angrily demanded a glass of beer. The old man toddled out of the room, and on his return he proffered to him a diminutive glass of white spirit, which he called usquebaugh. (Ch. 10)
Even slack Trollope is amusing, even without a “pernicious draught with his cheese,” and the fact is that four novels into this series I do have a stake in the characters and an interest in what Trollope will do with them. The reader impatient with Trollope will not make it to Ch. 22, p. 234, when a media satire subplot starts up that is something new and savage. But what is that reader doing with the fourth volume of a Trollope series? Is it the only book in the cabin? In which case, he likely will finish it, having little choice, plus halfway through the novel turns into a murder mystery, and it takes a reader of strong character not to finish a murder mystery.
I’ll undo some of the above tomorrow. The second half of Phineas Redux is a lot more interesting than the first half, that is all I am trying to say here.
It seems as though my Trollope reading plans need to be refined, and I thank you for helping me with that refinement; I had planned on jumping around helter-skelter, being drawn simply by title interest, but I guess I need to choose more wisely and read his work in sequence. So, where should I begin? _The Warden_ or elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of picking Trollope by title. What could possibly induce that reader to pick up The Three Clerks, Orley Farm, or The Small House at Allington?
ReplyDeleteAnd what reader could resist Is He Popenjoy? Well, is he or ain't he? I see that title and I want to know.
Trollope's greatest title is The Way We Live Now, more for its utility, though, its perfect description of the project of Trollope and many other writers.
Anyway, The Warden is wonderful (and short), but helter skelter is a good method, too. It is just that the further you get into one of the 6 volume series, the more Trollope leans on work - work on characters, really - he has done in earlier novels.
Your description really makes me wonder about a complete tangent--last year my mom looked at taking a 19th c lit course at the local university, but was disappointed when the reading list looked like it was designed for reluctant readers instead of English majors. It had Frankenstein and Jekyll & Hyde, not a lot of titles...but it also included Phineas Redux, which seems a *very* strange choice. I'm all for including Trollope, but why not a stand-alone that is shorter and more punchy? Anyway, talk about a hijack, but what Trollope title would you put into a syllabus for reluctant English majors?
ReplyDeleteOops, didn't see your comment when I was typing. I'm a big fan of The Warden myself, but at first I was thinking that all the church stuff would make it difficult for 18yo's. I've changed my mind, though. The journalism theme and the moral dilemma the nice warden puts upon himself would work, I think. I also like Dr. Wortle's School (another dud title) for the melodrama and rumor mill theme.
DeleteYes, that is strange. A surprise to those readers - am I already supposed to know who this Glencora Palliser character is? Yes, poor reader, you are.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the reluctant English major gets nervous about length? The first Palliser book, Can You Forgive Her?, has some great characters (e.g., Glencora) and some good ethical problems that are not quite like those of our time but close enough to be interesting. But it is an 800 page book.
Rohan Maitzen teaches Barchester Towers mostly, and sometimes The Warden, both of which are good ideas. But her English majors are not so reluctant.
I assume that length is a problem to reluctant English majors, yes. Can You Forgiver Her? is wonderful, though.
DeleteI don't know what the actual English majors are really like. But, our local university's reputation is more for partying than for scholastic endeavor. It's perfectly possible to get a good solid education there, but I'm not sure how many students actually do.
Many living college students are actively hostile to the idea of reading an entire book, regardless of length. I assume - hope - that the English majors are exceptions.
DeleteJean, your endorsement of _Dr. Wortle's School_ (yeah, lousy title) has me adding it to my Trollope TBR list; but first, I think, _The Warden_ will be my initiation. And as you will see at my Beyond Eastrod posting today, I have revived my interest in reading novels, with Tom's posting and your comment, I have another catalyst in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThe rumor mill is a major theme and structural component of Phineas Redux. So Trollope is still working on the problem 8 years later in Dr. Wortle's School - interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have seen plenty of adult book bloggers complain about the "church stuff" in Trollope, even though there is almost none, really (although it helps to look up the offices). There is way, way more political stuff in the two Phineas novels.
Ah, there are some lovely things in The Warden. It is a youngish man's gentle novel about the problems of an old man.
I'm an English major who discovered Trollope in a 19th century literature class. For some times afterwards I read one Trollope novel a year. I read helter-skelter, which I think is really the best way. As I recall, he tells you all you really need to know about the previous books as he goes. To be honest, while his books can be long, I found them to be pretty easy reads.
ReplyDeletei'm getting old. i read the barchester chronicle without keeping notes and that made it hard to maintain continuity. just can't remember stuff like i used to. thankfully, trollope has interesting vignettes to refresh one's interest interspersed fairly liberally throughout.
ReplyDeleteeasy - well sure, for us. Now put yourself in the mind of the college student who claims that he has never before in his life read a book from cover to cover. Make him, under penalty of not graduating, read Barchester Towers. Ha ha ha ha! That would be funny. Let's hide his phone while we're at it.
ReplyDeleteHow helter-skelter was your helter-skelter reading? Phineas Redux before Phineas Finn? Last Chronicle of Barchester before Small House?
I agree that Trollope recaps everything you need to know, but he does not redo all of the work he invested in creating the characters. The recurring characters run on momentum. Lizzie Eustace and Glencora Palliser are so much fun in PR only partly because of what they do in this novel, but even more because I already know so much about who they are. I already know their voices; I already get their jokes. That Dr. Frankenstein stitching work was done in Can You Forgive Her? and The Eustace Diamonds.
Mudpuddle, Trollope gives his readers a lot to remember, especially as the novels get bigger. Not just longer but more social. Who are all of these Ministers and Under-Secretaries and party agents in the Parliament books? They accumulate quickly. Luckily, one of them is murdered in Phineas Redux, making things easier.
I've read all 47 (is it 47?)--keep reading. Pretty soon you'll be wishing, like we all do about Austen, that he'd written more.
ReplyDeleteIs there a better written marriage in 19th century English lit than Glencora's?
The series is the key to that marriage. It can change over time and it is allowed to move into the background of other characters' stories. A 900 page novel tracing the marriage from beginning to end would be less interesting. Maybe not much less interesting. Still.
ReplyDelete47 sounds right. My 25 year old orange Penguin of Phineas Redux is #33 of 53 - 47 novels, 5 story collection, & the autobiography. The American travel book (which I have read) is omitted, as is the Thackeray book, and probably many more.
If this is #33, then I have read a third of that batch, which is not bad. And then none of the next 20. Holy cow, Trollope cranked out 20 books in the last 9 years of his life.
Oh dear. As much as I love Trollope I found Phineas Finn pretty tedious when I read it and listening to the audiobook recently did not change my opinion. I've read through The Eustace Diamonds so PR is next for me and you don't make me want to read it.
ReplyDeleteFor a while, this novel is definitely more of the same. A quarter - a third? - of the way in, it starts to change and become quite a lot more interesting. A little past the halfway point - bang! - now we're moving!
ReplyDeleteYou will need some patience if your read PR, that is my guess.