Giving Trollope his due

Press, 1 October 1983, Page 18

Giving Trollope his due

The Eustace Diamonds. By Anthony Trollope. 735 pp and notes. Phineas Redux. By Anthony Trollope. 724 pp and notes. Both Oxford U.P., 1983. $12.25 each (paperback). (Reviewed by Margaret Quigley) Anthony Trollope died in 1882 and to mark the centenary of his death the Oxford University Press has published a centenary edition of the six Palliser novels. To hand are “The Eustace Diamonds” and “Phineas Redux,” respectively the third and fourth in the series. W. J. McCormack, who has done an excellent job as general editor of the series, maintains in his introduction that Trollope is more than a Victorian second-rater who offered scenes of clerical life — an evaluation which seems to have been the general opinion of Trollope for some years; the editor makes out a convincing case for him to be regarded as a conscious and able artist, and a consistent political thinker. Certainly the Palliser novels are the ones to turn to to substantiate the second claim for, of all Trollope’s works, they are the most political. Even “The Eustace Diamonds,” although the least political of the six, is a telling study of society and politics in Victorian Britain. In “Phineas Redux” we are immediately thrown into the thick of a political campaign with all its attendant contriving, double-dealing and scandals. “The Eustace Diamonds” stands happily on its own, but it would be a

pity to read “Phineas Redux,” which charts the politician’s sombre progress towards self-knowledge and maturity, without enjoying the happier part of his story in the earlier book “Phineas Finn.” Indeed for any reader who has the time to persevere through Trollope’s detailed and meticulous pages it is worthwhile to read all six of the Palliser novels in correct sequence. The television production gave a taste of their quality, but it is only through Trollope s careful chronicling of minute details that the full flavour of his glittering, powerful, grasping world can be enjoyed.