Finished The Warden

I have finished The Warden, and I do feel like I read something of merit that was also entertaining and interesting. I espcially enjoyed the character of Harding, the warden of the title. He worries and obsesses and over thinks things, and I feel a kinship with him. I feel that I also tend to worry and nitpick, even after I have made a decision.

The other aspect of this novel that I felt resonates today is Trollope's scathing indictment of the press and its power. I find it interesting that almost 200 years after this novel was written, the press is still criticized and demonized for its pursuit of readership by using sensationalism and scandal-mongering. The newspaper of Trollope's novel, The Jupiter, relentlessly pursues what it views as corruption in the church. Trollope is very careful to subtly acknowledge that this corruption is very likely occurring. But he also makes sure that we know that Harding is the one character who is tortured by the the thought that his office is the beneficiary of church corruption. Ironically, The Jupiter succeeds in only getting rid of the one truly benevolent church officer in the novel, the warden Harding.

I had intended to continue with the Barchester novels, but I picked up my copy of Fagles' translation of the Iliad and got embroiled. I have read excerpts only of the Iliad, I thought I would try to read the whole thing. I had read mostly from Fitzgerald's translations in college. Fagles' translation came out 10-15 years ago, and was a sensation when it came out. I have read reviews of his translation that just sing its praises to high heaven, so I hope it lives up to its reviews. Fagles recently published his translation of The Aeneid and Nick gave me a copy for my birthday, which was nice as I had been reading Fitzgerald's translation of it. My copy of Fagles' Iliad is a used paperback - untouched - from www.shopgoodwill.com. I also bought his translation of The Odyssey at the same time.

When I read ancient literature, I feel strangely connected to all literature, new and old. The ancient stories are stories we still tell each other in our novels and poems. We think we have advanced and that these ancient people were primitive and crude, but we are these people. The graphic violence of today's films and books is right there in the Aeneid, beheadings, blood and gore, it's all there. And the crude humor of Apuleius in The Golden Ass is still laughed at today, although it may be Jim Carrey we're laughing at on the movie screen. I guess my point is that when I read ancient literature, I am constantly surprised by how familiar it feels.

Still reading Cryptonomicon. Only about 400 pages to go!

The Warden

I am now officially reading The Warden, the first of the Barchester novels. Finally! It is, so far, as I remembered it. Trollope creates a fully realized town in Barchester, and fully drawn characters. Readers of Jane Austen will feel a familiarity with Trollope, I think.

The criticism in the introduction of The Warden identifies Trollope's comments as the narrator as the only jarring notes in the novel. Occasionally, Trollope self-consciously comments on the action, remarking that such things only happen in novels. I agree with the critic in that it can be a bit jarring, however, it does not bother me. The only thing that bothers me on this reading is Trollope's name choices for his characters - Haphazard for the lawyer is one. It's a very old fashioned choice that reminds me of Pilgrim's Progress. I think it was unneccessary, too. Trollope's characters are so honest and real that the reader doesn't need Trollope's signposting in the form of character names.

Another book I read this week was The Children of Green Knowe by L. M. Boston. It's a children's book, a blend of fantasy and imagination that leaves you enchanted. I saw the book at the local library and was intrigued. I couldn't get my 9 year old interested in the book, so I checked it out myself. I'm so glad I did. Now I have the delightful prospect ahead of 5 (I think) more books to read in the series. The story is about a young boy who goes to stay with his great-grandmother in her ancient country home. As he comes to know the house and his great grandmother, strange things start to happen. He hears children, who turn out to be his ancestors who once lived in the house. Are they ghosts? or his fantasy? And then he learns that his great grandmother is aware of them as well. She tells him stories about the three ghost children, wonderful tales that sweep him up into their world.

I found a website for the author Lucy Boston's home, http://www.greenknowe.co.uk/index.html. There are some lovely photos of the home that was the basis for the home in the Green Knowe stories.

I am also still reading a few pages of Cryptonomicon here and there.

More UnTrollope...

I was laid up last week and guess what? I did NOT read Trollope. I read Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes. This was a very British, literary murder mystery with wonderful Shakespeare references, Hamlet and otherwise. There were many other cultural references - highbrow cultural references - and I had to make a list so I could look everything up all at once. It was enjoyable, rather dated and complicated in the myriad of characters that kept parading on and off the page.

The references I enjoyed the most were not the highbrow ones, sorry to say. I was very tickled by the ever so slightly snide references to Agatha Christie's Poirot. A few of the characters complain about Police Inspector Appleby, and insist that a Real detective would be better, a foreigner. And Appleby makes a pointed reference to his gray cells early on. These little touches amused me so much I had to find out more about Michael Innes, which is a pseudonym for John Innes Mackintosh Stewart, a Scottish scholar and novelist.

In the process of researching Michael Innes, I discovered this amazing web site:

The Library Thing

You can catalog your own library, browse other people's shelves, see what other people are reading that might be to your taste. Very interesting and fun. Enjoy!