Austen-esque
When one of my supervising profs in my PhD program handed me a list of works to read, I gulped when I saw that list included about six pages of single-spaced titles. After I recovered, I hopped on the internet and looked up on Netflix every title I’d not yet read. And anything produced in movie form, I stuck in my queue. That way, I figured, if I don’t make it through my list before examinations, I’ll at least be familiar with all the storylines.
One such works available in DVD is Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope. I’m showing my ignorance again here, but I had never heard of him or it. But apparently Trollope (1816–1882) was one of the most successful, prolific, and respected English novelists of the Victorian era.
Yesterday, I sat for six hours watching the 1982 BBC-produced seven-part mini-series, "The Barchester Chronicles," based, actually, on two of Trollope’s books, The Warden and Barchester Towers. The series had an impressive cast with terrific performances by Donald Pleasence as the kindly Septimus Hardin; Nigel Hawthorne as the volatile Archdeacon Grantly; and Alan Rickman as the ambitious Reverend Slope. (I kept hearing “Snape.” Not far off, eh?)
Storyline: A series of reforms and reformers from both the general public and the Anglican Church hierarchy shake up the small-town diocese of Barchester. And while his superiors sometimes lose sight of true justice, Rev. Septimus Harding is a guileless, loving servant with clear vision, if little power. Yet in the end his life demonstrates how one humble person with right on his side can effect change. In a good way. When some of his clergy colleagues want to “win” at the expense of justice, Hardin’s character annoys them with what his bishop describes as his “persistent bouts of Christianity.”
When it comes to light that Mr. Harding, through no fault of his own, is being paid more than was intended (according to the terms of an endowment) for serving as warden of a hospital for the poor, he resigns. When those around him try to talk him out of it, we have this dialogue:
Sir Abraham Haphazard: Give up this idea, Mr. Harding. A man is never the best judge of his own position.
Rev. Septimus Harding: A man is the best judge of his own feelings. I would rather beg than see those words written about me in the [newspaper], and know that the man who wrote those words has truth on his side. My God knows whether I love my daughter, but I would rather that she and I begged in the streets than that she should live in comfort on money which is rightly the property of the poor! I'm sorry. And now you should know that from tomorrow, I shall no longer be Warden of Hiram's Hospital.
Sir Abraham Haphazard: You should sleep on this, Mr. Harding. Make no hasty decisions.
Rev. Septimus Harding: I have slept on it. I have done more than sleep upon it, I have lain awake on it, and that night after night. I found I could not sleep upon it. But now—now that I have made my decision, I think I shall sleep again. I shall sleep tonight.
Trollope has a new fan in me. Watching "The Barchester Chronicles" was like discovering a new Jane Austen story, the only difference being that after the first episode, my husband stuck around to watch, too. I loved and hated the characters, the period, and the honest portrayal of good and bad clergy.
And then add the romantic chemistry, clever wit, and costumes. I'll probably buy the DVD and use episodes for group discussion. Five stars.