Each of the twenty-nine novels in Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series is like one tile in a complex mosaic. Looked at singly, each is more or less charming or diverting; looked at in the aggregate, they form a picture of a particular time, a particular place, and a particular group of people.
Why do you need Going to Barsetshire?
- Because it is, in its modest way, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and a guide.
- It will orient you in Barsetshire, which was invented in 1855 by Anthony Trollope; in fact, Going to Barsetshire contains synopses of twelve relevant Trollope novels.
- It will put you in the picture of the political situation in England during the almost thirty years spanned by the novels. Each book is set in the year in which it is written. Together, they span the years 1933 to 1961, and are, as Elizabeth Bowen has said, a picture of the culture and experiences of those years that would be valuable to the historians or anthropologists of the future. The future envisioned by Ms. Bowen is upon us.
(To be sure, Mrs. Thirkell herself described Barsetshire as Cloud-Cuckooland, because in many ways it is. She was creating amusing diversions for her many readers, and made no attempt to be realistic. But in ways she didn't intend, her work faithfully mirrors the attitudes and cultural life of that part of English society which was her milieu.)
- It will help you keep track of the hundreds of characters in the series, using both its dictionary of characters and its family trees.
- It will suggest which titles to read should you want to follow a particular character in the books in which he or she is most prominent.
- Should you wish to read the entire series, the titles are listed in chronological order.
- It will explain terms unfamiliar to Americans, and possibly in some cases unfamiliar to present-day British readers.
- It will identify many of the literary allusions that are so abundant throughout the series. All those characters from Dickens! All that Browning and Tennyson! The references to plays and novels long gone ~ all these mysteries are revealed. Not only is each discovery interesting for its own sake, but an understanding of the full context of some partial or hidden quotations adds meaning that would otherwise be lost to the reader.
The Thirkell Barsetshire novels, as a whole, present a challenge. Going to Barsetshire, written in a style similar in charm and wit (or so we hope) to that of Angela Thirkell herself, will make your reading experience easier, richer, and more fun.
Going to Barsetshire: 290 pages, soft cover, 8.5" x 11"
Price: $20 ($18 for members of the Angela Thirkell Society)
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