1815: Anthony Trollope - Palliser series I: Can You Forgive Her?
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1edwinbcn
Can You Forgive Her? is the first of six novels in the "Palliser" series by Anthony Trollope, first published in serial form in 1864 and 1865.
The novel follows three parallel stories of courtship and marriage and the decisions of three strong women: Alice Vavasor, her cousin Glencora Palliser, and her aunt Arabella Greenow. Early on, Alice asks the question "What should a woman do with her life?" This theme repeats itself in the dilemmas faced by the other women in the novel. Lady Glencora and her husband Plantagenet Palliser recur in the remainder of the Palliser series.
The satirical periodical Punch mocked the work, referring to it as Can You Stand Her? due to its writers' irritation at Alice's inepititude in deciding between her two suitors. Another commentator2 makes light of the book's length, joking that for modern audiences a more appropriate title might be Can You Possibly Finish It?
2rebeccanyc
Thanks for setting up these threads, Edwin. Here is my review.
This is the first of Trollope's Palliser series, and introduces several members of the Palliser family although they form a somewhat secondary thread of the novel. Likewise, while I gather the series as a whole focuses on Parliament and British politics generally, and while these are important in this novel, they are also secondary to the main plots and themes. For what this novel primarily addresses is the strictures placed upon women in the mid to late 19th century: in choosing husbands, in managing (their own) money, and in always needing to seem, if not be, respectable.
Three women serve as examples of these quandaries, and the primary focus of the book is on Alice Vavasor. On her father's side, Alice is the descendent of centuries of small landowners; her mother died early in her life but on that side she has more noble relatives, who largely, except for one, Lady Glencora (another focus of the plot), she doesn't see much. Alice is very friendly with her cousins Kate and George Vavasor, and indeed was once engaged to George. The engagement was broken off because of some misconduct by George, and as the novel opens she is engaged to, and in love with, a very respectable man, John Grey. Alice yearns to be involved in the issues and activities of the times, and fears that life in the country with John Grey will be too boring -- and so she keeps postponing setting a date for the wedding.
A lot of the novel deals with Alice's subsequent change of heart, encouraged b Kate who dreams of a marriage between Alice and her brother, and by George's desire to run for a parliamentary seat. George turns out to be ruthless, mean, violent, and more, and has no compunction about using Alice's money (inherited from her mother) to pay for an "agent" who apparently bribes people to vote for a desired candidate. Alice agonizes about her choices endlessly.
Two other women's stories are intertwined with Alice's. Her cousin, Lady Glencora, is madly in love with a charming and beautiful man, Burgo Fitzgerald, who has no aim in life other than to live well and beyond his means; he is initially after Glencora's money but finds he loves her too. Needless to say, her relatives refuse to let her marry Burgo and hasten to marry her off to Plantagenent Palliser, the son of a duke and a rising star in Parliament. She, of course, finds him boring in the extreme and still longs for Burgo, who plots to carry her off despite her marriage, although she knows she shouldn't.
The other woman is Alice's aunt, Mrs. Greenow, a widow who inherited money from her husband, who was "in trade." She provides comic relief, as she is a delightful schemer, but she also represents a woman who can make choices on her own, thanks to her widowed status. She is juggling two prospective new husbands, one a solid farmer and one a charming liar, out in the countryside where she is living.
And so the stage is set as Trollope masterfully organizes the endlessly complex interactions among these characters (and many more), including abduction plots, steadfast loyalty, political scheming, romantic yearning, inheritance puzzles, and, for Alice, endless worrying and self-scolding for what she believes to be her unforgivable behavior towards John Grey. In this novel, the bad characters get worse as the novel progresses, and the good people acquire additional good characteristics, so the ending is satisfying, if indeed a little unbelievable for someone like me who generally reads much grimmer fare.
I am impressed by Trollope's writing, in particular by his creation of full-fledged, believable female characters, as well as by his ability to juggle plots and characters and by his authorly interjections to the reader. I am glad I finally succumbed to reading him, and will continue to do so.
This is the first of Trollope's Palliser series, and introduces several members of the Palliser family although they form a somewhat secondary thread of the novel. Likewise, while I gather the series as a whole focuses on Parliament and British politics generally, and while these are important in this novel, they are also secondary to the main plots and themes. For what this novel primarily addresses is the strictures placed upon women in the mid to late 19th century: in choosing husbands, in managing (their own) money, and in always needing to seem, if not be, respectable.
Three women serve as examples of these quandaries, and the primary focus of the book is on Alice Vavasor. On her father's side, Alice is the descendent of centuries of small landowners; her mother died early in her life but on that side she has more noble relatives, who largely, except for one, Lady Glencora (another focus of the plot), she doesn't see much. Alice is very friendly with her cousins Kate and George Vavasor, and indeed was once engaged to George. The engagement was broken off because of some misconduct by George, and as the novel opens she is engaged to, and in love with, a very respectable man, John Grey. Alice yearns to be involved in the issues and activities of the times, and fears that life in the country with John Grey will be too boring -- and so she keeps postponing setting a date for the wedding.
A lot of the novel deals with Alice's subsequent change of heart, encouraged b Kate who dreams of a marriage between Alice and her brother, and by George's desire to run for a parliamentary seat. George turns out to be ruthless, mean, violent, and more, and has no compunction about using Alice's money (inherited from her mother) to pay for an "agent" who apparently bribes people to vote for a desired candidate. Alice agonizes about her choices endlessly.
Two other women's stories are intertwined with Alice's. Her cousin, Lady Glencora, is madly in love with a charming and beautiful man, Burgo Fitzgerald, who has no aim in life other than to live well and beyond his means; he is initially after Glencora's money but finds he loves her too. Needless to say, her relatives refuse to let her marry Burgo and hasten to marry her off to Plantagenent Palliser, the son of a duke and a rising star in Parliament. She, of course, finds him boring in the extreme and still longs for Burgo, who plots to carry her off despite her marriage, although she knows she shouldn't.
The other woman is Alice's aunt, Mrs. Greenow, a widow who inherited money from her husband, who was "in trade." She provides comic relief, as she is a delightful schemer, but she also represents a woman who can make choices on her own, thanks to her widowed status. She is juggling two prospective new husbands, one a solid farmer and one a charming liar, out in the countryside where she is living.
And so the stage is set as Trollope masterfully organizes the endlessly complex interactions among these characters (and many more), including abduction plots, steadfast loyalty, political scheming, romantic yearning, inheritance puzzles, and, for Alice, endless worrying and self-scolding for what she believes to be her unforgivable behavior towards John Grey. In this novel, the bad characters get worse as the novel progresses, and the good people acquire additional good characteristics, so the ending is satisfying, if indeed a little unbelievable for someone like me who generally reads much grimmer fare.
I am impressed by Trollope's writing, in particular by his creation of full-fledged, believable female characters, as well as by his ability to juggle plots and characters and by his authorly interjections to the reader. I am glad I finally succumbed to reading him, and will continue to do so.
3edwinbcn
Thanks, Rebecca. I was hoping you would post them here. I will start reading Trollope when I get back to Beijing.
4MissWatson
Great review, Rebecca! I read this last year and I liked it for the same reasons you mention.
5StevenTX
One of the key passages near the end of Can You Forgive Her? occurs in Lucerne, Switzerland. (For the sake of those who haven't read it, I won't say what or whom, but those who have read the book will know.) When Trollope described the hotel where the party was staying I immediately recognized it as the Hotel Schweizerhof where I had stayed several years ago. The hotel is the large white building with two wings and with the gray roof.
And there is a church mentioned in the novel with a burial ground on a hill surrounded by cloisters. This is the Court Church of St. Leodegar and is the building with two spires on the right edge of the picture above. In the image below from Google Earth you can easily see the cemetery above and to the left of the church and the cloisters which surround it.
And below is my photo of the steps which our characters climbed to reach the cloisters.
And there is a church mentioned in the novel with a burial ground on a hill surrounded by cloisters. This is the Court Church of St. Leodegar and is the building with two spires on the right edge of the picture above. In the image below from Google Earth you can easily see the cemetery above and to the left of the church and the cloisters which surround it.
And below is my photo of the steps which our characters climbed to reach the cloisters.
6StevenTX
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
First published 1864 (Vol. 1) and 1865 (Vol. 2)
The "You" referred to in the title of Can You Forgive Her? is the reader. The "Her" is Alice Vavasor, 24 years old, heiress of a modest fortune from her deceased mother's estate, and largely left to her own devices by her negligent father. What we may or may not forgiver her for is the series of choices she will make--most of which she will regret--when faced with marriage proposals from two men. One of the men is wealthy, trustworthy, respectable, and caring. He offers her a life of quiet retirement at his country seat in what he admits is the ugliest part of England. The other man, her cousin, is a fiery, ambitious risk-taker who has made and lost several fortunes. He is honest enough to admit that he is courting Alice chiefly for her money which he needs to support a run for Parliament.
Alice is not the only woman who faces a choice between a man who is boring but respectable and one who is exciting but a scamp. Her widowed aunt, Mrs. Greenow, is considering remarriage, and her appearances are a continuous source of comic relief. Alice's distant cousin, Lady Glencora Palliser, is in a more serious situation. She has been forced by her family into a loveless marriage with Plantagenet Palliser, a rising politician who wants her only for her wealth and to breed an heir. But she is still madly in love with a dashing but penniless rascal and can't trust herself not to run off with him at the first opportunity.
"What should a woman do with her life?... A woman’s life is important to her,—as is that of a man to him,—not chiefly in regard to that which she shall do with it. The chief thing for her to look to is the manner in which that something shall be done." True to the sense of this observation, Trollope delves into the motivations of each of his characters. Alice is far from being the only one who needs our forgiveness by the time the story is done. Forgiveness is a regular motif, in fact, as characters are regularly tasked with forgiving one another or, in some cases, denying that forgiveness.
Trollope uses an interesting technique to engage the reader directly with Alice and the other characters. Repeated authorial remarks like "I am inclined to think that Mr Grey knew what he was about" invite us to judge the characters apart from the author's intentions and to disagree with his conclusions. Midway through the novel Trollope admits his own sympathies on the matter, but implies that he can not tell us how to judge Alice, only hope that we will agree with him: "And you also must forgive her before we close the book, or else my story will have been told amiss." Of course in judging Alice we are judging her creator. Only a confident author would stand his work up in this manner, and I think Trollope's confidence is not misplaced.
About half of the novel takes place in London. As two of the major characters are involved with Parliament, English politics naturally come in for some degree of comment, and we are shown seats in Parliament being won through the buying of votes among the working classes. But the social message and satire of Can You Forgive Her? do not run very deep, and Trollope's depiction of London of the 1860s pales by comparison with that of Dickens. Trollope is much more in his element writing about the leisurely lives and often comical social adventures of the country gentry, and this where much of the novel plays out. The remaining scenes comprise two picturesque visits to Switzerland.
Can You Forgive Her? is the first of six "Palliser Novels." While the Palliser family is secondary in this story, Lady Glencora Palliser is by far the novel's most engaging character. Her freethinking attitudes seem to presage those of this century. Alice is more a source of frustration--"slappable," some would call her. In the end, though, it isn't so much whether her friends can forgive her, or even whether the reader can forgive her, but can she forgive herself? And isn't that the crux of it for us all?
First published 1864 (Vol. 1) and 1865 (Vol. 2)
The "You" referred to in the title of Can You Forgive Her? is the reader. The "Her" is Alice Vavasor, 24 years old, heiress of a modest fortune from her deceased mother's estate, and largely left to her own devices by her negligent father. What we may or may not forgiver her for is the series of choices she will make--most of which she will regret--when faced with marriage proposals from two men. One of the men is wealthy, trustworthy, respectable, and caring. He offers her a life of quiet retirement at his country seat in what he admits is the ugliest part of England. The other man, her cousin, is a fiery, ambitious risk-taker who has made and lost several fortunes. He is honest enough to admit that he is courting Alice chiefly for her money which he needs to support a run for Parliament.
Alice is not the only woman who faces a choice between a man who is boring but respectable and one who is exciting but a scamp. Her widowed aunt, Mrs. Greenow, is considering remarriage, and her appearances are a continuous source of comic relief. Alice's distant cousin, Lady Glencora Palliser, is in a more serious situation. She has been forced by her family into a loveless marriage with Plantagenet Palliser, a rising politician who wants her only for her wealth and to breed an heir. But she is still madly in love with a dashing but penniless rascal and can't trust herself not to run off with him at the first opportunity.
"What should a woman do with her life?... A woman’s life is important to her,—as is that of a man to him,—not chiefly in regard to that which she shall do with it. The chief thing for her to look to is the manner in which that something shall be done." True to the sense of this observation, Trollope delves into the motivations of each of his characters. Alice is far from being the only one who needs our forgiveness by the time the story is done. Forgiveness is a regular motif, in fact, as characters are regularly tasked with forgiving one another or, in some cases, denying that forgiveness.
Trollope uses an interesting technique to engage the reader directly with Alice and the other characters. Repeated authorial remarks like "I am inclined to think that Mr Grey knew what he was about" invite us to judge the characters apart from the author's intentions and to disagree with his conclusions. Midway through the novel Trollope admits his own sympathies on the matter, but implies that he can not tell us how to judge Alice, only hope that we will agree with him: "And you also must forgive her before we close the book, or else my story will have been told amiss." Of course in judging Alice we are judging her creator. Only a confident author would stand his work up in this manner, and I think Trollope's confidence is not misplaced.
About half of the novel takes place in London. As two of the major characters are involved with Parliament, English politics naturally come in for some degree of comment, and we are shown seats in Parliament being won through the buying of votes among the working classes. But the social message and satire of Can You Forgive Her? do not run very deep, and Trollope's depiction of London of the 1860s pales by comparison with that of Dickens. Trollope is much more in his element writing about the leisurely lives and often comical social adventures of the country gentry, and this where much of the novel plays out. The remaining scenes comprise two picturesque visits to Switzerland.
Can You Forgive Her? is the first of six "Palliser Novels." While the Palliser family is secondary in this story, Lady Glencora Palliser is by far the novel's most engaging character. Her freethinking attitudes seem to presage those of this century. Alice is more a source of frustration--"slappable," some would call her. In the end, though, it isn't so much whether her friends can forgive her, or even whether the reader can forgive her, but can she forgive herself? And isn't that the crux of it for us all?
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