Salisbury, but the Barchester of the novels was never merely The book was conceived one summer evening in Series which has come to be regarded as his highestĪchievement. Imaginative novel, The Warden, the first of that Barsetshire Upon this impression that he based his first truly Intricate patterns of their manners and social life. Hazy, rich impression of towns and villages, of churches andĬountry houses, of clergy and laity, and of the quietly Wanderings, he got, not another careful slice of life, but a Moved too quickly to become bogged down anywhere. Upon the materials offered to it were extensive, but he Of England outside London, and its combination of varietyĪnd hurry was exactly what his imagination needed to work Or seven counties, visiting many places, meeting many The task of organizing country posts in South West England,Īnd for two happy years he rode up and down and about in six Growth of literary perception on his own part, but by a Of the novel as a mere animated guide-book, not by any He was turned from these false starts, from his conception Publishers to whom specimens were sent omitted to read them, Then he tried his hand at a guide-book, but the Historical novel followed, as dismally cluttered up withīook-learning as the Irish novels had been by unimaginative Irish novels were failures, as they deserved to be. Industriously, and wrote them down as best he could. Ireland, so he Cut a few slices from it, observed them Write a novel, the life that lay under his eyes was that of Life faithfully observed and entertainingly told, with a few He supposed, as an honest professional man, to provide hisĬustomers with the commodity they expected and what theyĮxpected, he was taught to believe, was ' realism', slices of Trollope fell an easy prey to the shallower notions of hisĪge about the way novels should be written. Misconceiving both his own powers and the nature of fiction, 'The Warden' by Anthony Trollope reviewed by H S Davies 3 The Warden

The warden by anthony trollope