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Barchester Towers

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Third Edition

Anthony Trollope
Edited by John Bowen

Oxford World's Classics

Barchester Towers is the second novel in Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire, a richly comic story of clerical in-fighting centring on the formidable Mrs Proudie and the oily Mr Slope, and the disruption to Barchester society by the arrival of the lively Stanhope familly.
John Bowen's introduction examines the literary skill with which Trollope combines comedy and acute social and pyschological observation.
Helpful notes provide contextual background and draw on the latest scholarship.
Includes a Biographical Preface and Chronology of Trollope's life, an up-to-date Bibliography, full textual note, and Trollope's Map of Barsetshire.
The appendices include Trollope's general introduction to the Chronicles of Barsetshire series and Nicholas Shrimpton's invaluable survey of the Barsetshire novels and the Church.

New to this Edition:

New editorial material by John Bowen, including introduction, note on the text, selet bibliography, and explanatory notes.
New chronology of Trollope.
Biographical Preface.
Two appendices: Trollope's introduction to the Barsetshire Chronicles set and an invaluable appendix by Nicholas Shrimpton on the Barsetshire novels and the Church.
New map of Barsetshire (by Trollope).
Reset text based on the revised Chronicles of Barsetshire text prepared by Trollope in 1878.

Barchester Towers

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Third Edition

Anthony Trollope
Edited by John Bowen

Description

'Mr Slope flattered himself that he could out-manoeuvre the lady...he did not doubt of ultimate triumph.'

Barchester Towers (1857) was the book that made Trollope's reputation and it remains his most popular and enjoyable novel. The arrival of a new bishop in Barchester, accompanied by his formidable wife and ambitious chaplain, Obadiah Slope, sets the town in turmoil as Archdeacon Grantly declares 'War, war, internecine war!' on Bishop Proudie and his supporters. Who will come out on top in the battle between the archdeacon, the bishop, Mr Slope, and Mrs Proudie?

The livelihood of Mr Harding, the saintly hero of The Warden, is once more under threat but clerical warfare finds itself tangled up in the wayward (and sometimes perverse) desires of the many courtships, seductions, and romances of the book. Who will marry Eleanor Bold? Can any man resist the charms of the exotically beautiful 'La Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni'? Will the oily Mr Slope finally get his comeuppance? Trollope's matchless handling of plot and character displays a skill whose distinctive literary qualities are celebrated in this new edition.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Barchester Towers

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Third Edition

Anthony Trollope
Edited by John Bowen

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

Anthony Trollope

Edited by John Bowen, University of York

John Bowen has written widely on nineteenth-century fiction and his publications include Other Dickens: Pickwick to Chuzzlewit (OUP, 2000) and Palgrave Advances in Charles Dickens Studies (2003), co-edited with Robert L. Patten. He has edited Dickens's Barnaby Rudge for Penguin and Trollope's Phineas Redux for Oxford World's Classics (2011).

Barchester Towers

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Third Edition

Anthony Trollope
Edited by John Bowen

Oxford World's Classics

From Our Blog

Finding Trollope

Finding Trollope is one of the great pleasures of life. Unlike other Victorian authors Trollope is little studied in schools, so every reader comes to him by a different path. It might be a recommendation by a friend, listening to a radio adaptation or watching a TV production that leads to the discovery of Trollope and his world. I stumbled across Trollope in the early 1990s. I had recently graduated, moved to London and found myself working in a bookshop.

Posted on April 25, 2015

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Anthony Trollope: not as safe as we thought he was?

Anthony Trollope. Safe, stodgy, hyper-Victorian Anthony Trollope, the comfort reading of the middle classes. As his rival and admirer Henry James said after his death 'With Trollope we were always safe'. But was he really the most respectable of Victorian novelists?

Posted on April 9, 2015

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Barchester Towers

The Chronicles of Barsetshire

Third Edition

Anthony Trollope
Edited by John Bowen

Oxford World's Classics

Audio Guide

In an audio guide series to celebrate the life and works of Anthony Trollope in his bicentennial year, we interviewed two editors of Trollope's Oxford World's Classics editions, Professor Helen Small and Dr. Nicholas Shrimpton.

To listen to the full discussion of Anthony Trollope's life and works with Professor Helen Small and Dr. Nicholas Shrimpton, click on the links below.

The Writing

Helen Small and Nicholas Shrimpton discuss why Trollope has gone in and out of fashion over the years[2:23]
Anthony Trollope continues the comic provincial novel tradition where Austen left off[1:40]
He not only wrote great comedy, there was tragedy too[2:04]