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A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France (Paperback)
Barchester Towers, published in 1857, is the second novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire". It is possibly Trollope's best known work.
Plot summary
Barchester Towers concerns the leading citizens of the imaginary cathedral city of Barchester. The much loved bishop having died, all expectations are that his son, Archdeacon Grantly, also a clergyman, will gain the office in his place. Instead, owing to the passage of the power of patronage to a new Prime Minister, a newcomer, Bishop Proudie, gains the see. His wife, Mrs Proudie, exercises an undue influence over the new bishop, making herself unpopular with right-thinking members of the clergy and their families. Her interference in the reappointment of the universally popular Mr Septimus Harding (hero of Trollope's earlier novel, The Warden) as warden of the hospital is not well received, even though she gives the position to a needy clergyman with a large family to support.Even less popular than Mrs Proudie is the bishop's newly appointed chaplain, the hypocritical Mr Slope, who takes a fancy to Harding's wealthy widowed daughter, Eleanor Bold, and hopes to win her favour by interfering in the controversy over the wardenship. Summoned by the local clergy to protect their interests against the Proudies and Mr Slope is another clergyman, the brilliant Mr Arabin. He also falls in love with Eleanor, and she with him. After some misunderstandings, they become engaged. Mr Slope's double-dealing is revealed, and he is dismissed by Mrs Proudie.
External links
There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art.
—《Barchester Towers》
回覆(40): 書房讚嘆區, Trollope, 09-17 23:10:19
風鳴兄：
Maggie 忙到亂髻甩頭，我點敢介紹佢睇一本本似磚頭的 Trollope 小說。
When Anthony Trollope died in 1882, he had written more words than any other English novelist.
你前天晚上所貼照片中的四部書，我沒有讀過 Richard Mullen (1990) 寫的那部傳記，這書與 N. John Hall (1991) 的那一部 Trollope 傳齊名，應該很不錯。
Trollope 的傳記我只是略翻過 Victoria Glendinning 的那一本，書名就叫 "Trollope"，大概是 1992 年出版。那幾年 Trollope 的傳記出得真熱鬧，八十年代末至九十年代初竟有四本之多，更竟然都有份量。Glendinning 是傳記文學名家，她曾經為 Trollope 他媽的 (vulgarity not intended!) 一部傳記寫了序言，書名叫 "Fanny Trollope"，傳記作者 Teresa Ransom 是 Fanny Trollope 的後人。Trollope 媽 Fanny 也是作家，好一個揚眉女子，作品深受狄更斯和馬克吐)等讚賞。
讀 Trollope 的小說自當如風鳴兄般由 Barsetshire novels 那一個系列的六部小說讀起，"The Warden" 和 "Barchester Towers" 尤其精彩，後者更無疑是 Trollope 最著名的作品。此一系列的最後一部 "The Last Chronicle of Barset" 情味比較 gloomy，而文氣益見渾厚，內歛而深邃，Trollope 一貫圓熟老練的文筆，於此更臻高峰，不少 Trollopians 認為 this is the finest he ever wrote. 風兄如果閒暇時間不多，讀完 "Barchester Towers" 之後，跳來讀這一本，當亦無憾。
至於以 "Can You Forgive Her?" 為首的 Palliser novels 系列，是另一個引人入勝的 mid-Victorian (1851-1879) 世界。這個系列又稱為 parliamentary novels，如果你對維多利亞女皇時代的議會政治完全沒有興趣，這六本小說便不會讀得投入。很多英國人倒是看得津津有味，BBC 在七十年代拍過電視劇，共有 26 集。悶不悶？我覺得不會 (Civil Service, Parliament, the Law 等)，有如看中國內地的電視歷史劇集，很不錯呀。這套劇的 DVD 在香港的 HMV 間見有售。
我比較喜歡 Barsetshire 系列，迷倒於那一種幾已消失殆盡的英國鄉間風物與小鎮人情 (the Church and the rural gentry 等) 。作者筆下的正面人物，入世而每能出塵，有品格又有人情味，親之近人，令人眉展而懷放。
此外，Trollope 的 social satires 中我以為 "Rachel Ray" 和 "The Way We Live Now" 都應該一讀。當然還有那部為他招謗甚多的自傳。
你 照片中的 Oxford 和 Penguin 兩種 handbook 各有好處，Oxford 交代背景詳細，Penguin 介紹人物清晰，都很好用，我的都是在海外買的（愛丁堡和星加坡）。我另有一部 1948 年 Princeton University Press 出版的 "A Guide to Trollope"，此書介紹小說出現過的人和地，每多引用 Trollope 原語，饒富趣味。Besides this attraction, it's a very handsome volume. 差不多同年代出飯的，還有藏書家 Michael Sadleir 的經典之作 "Trollope: A Commentary" (London: Constable, 1945，第三版)。Sadlier 是 Constable 出版社的老闆，he was perhaps the biggest influence in the revival of the interest in Trollope since the 1920s。這兩部書恐怕現在都不易找到了。二書我都在牛津的二手書肆覓得，共費約一百五十港元而已。Sadlier 的那部書在六十年代初曾經由 OUP 影印出版過一次。
此外，我大約二十年前在 University College London 附近的 Dillions 購得 Donald Smalley 編的 "Trollope: The Critical Heritage"，令我對 Trollope 的流風餘韻了解大增。這書應該未曾絕版。談到 handbook，有一套書風兄不妨一知，書名叫 "Everyone and Everything in Trollope"，共四大冊，是三數年前出版的書。
Trollope 作品的版本，以倫敦 The Trollope Society 的精裝本為上品，但這不是一般讀者可以負擔的。牛津大學出版社的舊版精裝本，藍色硬面，小巧可愛，叫人不能釋手。我在英國各處的舊書店見過一些，索價不 菲，結果至今此版我一本未有。牛津舊版黑色封面的平裝本，二手價平得多了，紙薄而韌，字墨鮮明，亦甚可喜，我買了幾種。至於現今，則是 Penguin 和 OUP 的平裝本平分天下，校勘之功非我所知，惟單以序文及註釋而論，Penguin 版一般只會勝於而不會不如 OUP 版。論印刷裝訂，二者均差於舊本多矣。
我這個 Trollope 迷，幾年來在這兒絕少談 Anthony Trollope，就是因為怕像這樣的收不了口，自悶悶人。諸君知我諒多，包涵包涵。
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