Barchester Towers
(eBook)

Barchester Towers, published in 1857 by Anthony Trollope, is the second novel in his series known as the 'Chronicles of Barsetshire'. Among other things it satirises the antipathy in the Church of England between High Church and Evangelical adherents. Trollope began writing this book in 1855. He wrote constantly and made himself a writing-desk so he could continue writing while travelling by train. 'Pray know that when a man begins writing a book he never gives over', he wrote in a letter during this period. 'The evil with which he is beset is as inveterate as drinking - as exciting as gambling'. In his autobiography, Trollope observed 'In the writing of Barchester Towers I took great delight. The bishop and Mrs. Proudie were very real to me, as were also the troubles of the archdeacon and the loves of Mr. Slope'. When he submitted his finished work, his publisher, William Longman, initially turned it down, finding much of it to be full of 'vulgarity and exaggeration'. Recent critics offer a more sanguine opinion, 'Barchester Towers is many readers' favourite Trollope', wrote The Guardian, which included it in its list of '1000 novels everyone must read'.