‘Trollopian’. Do you ever use that word? I wondered whether maybe I had made it up but no it is indeed a bona fide word. When I employ this term it is usually when commenting on happenings in churches, or more frequently cathedrals. I am meaning that the situation is reminiscent of something in Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers. This is a sequence of Victorian novels concerned with a cathedral community and the goings on and machinations of those within and without the Cathedral Close. Much is made of ecclesiastical titles: archdeacons, minor canons, vergers, sacristans etc. Power, control and status are much sought after and who takes tea with whom is carefully noted. Despite being written in the middle of the 19th century, it is very easy to find contemporary stories of disputes between deans and bishops in English cathedrals that mirror those of which Trollope wrote.
I had thought these books were called the Barchester Chronicles but it seems that this was the overall title given by the BBC when they dramatised the stories in the 1980s. Also, please note that we are in Barsetshire not Borsetshire, where the Archers reside in Ambridge!
Over a century later, a distant 5th generation niece of Anthony Trollope, Joanna of course, wrote a book using subject matter her predecessor would have recognised and with which he would have been familiar. ‘The Choir’ was an early book in a series of work that became called Aga Sagas. I looked up where this term originated and it was in fact first used by the critic Terence Blacker, writing in Publishing News in 1992. What does it conjure up for you I wonder? It was supposed to tell the reader to expect middle class characters, often quite well off, usually living in pretty villages or small prosperous market towns. Although Joanna Trollope became very tired of the phrase coming up in every interview and article, it is in fact fairly accurate. There are indeed many Agas!
I suspect many of you read these books several decades ago but maybe not so many of you still have them lined on your bookshelves. I do and I have been enjoying visiting them again.
In ‘The Choir’ the cathedral in Aldminster has problems, financial among others, and there are several different proposed ways of solving the seemingly rather intractable difficulties. Church and cathedral roofs often feel intractable don’t you think? One radical thought is to get rid of the cathedral choir and its associated costs. I remember, on first reading, thinking that something like that would never happen but of course recently, in pandemic and lockdown times, at least one cathedral took the opportunity to do just this, relying heavily on words like elitist and irrelevant.
Joanna Trollope adds to the mix a failing marriage, an affair with the organist and a Dean with troublesome children. It is good reading.
I notice that in many of her books Trollope has a female character who is slightly (or sometimes wholly) out of place. In this story and in another church based one, ‘The Rector’s Wife,’ they do not fit in with the perceived views of others as to what is deemed ‘right’ or appropriate within a church setting. The author seems to enjoy describing rather colourful, exotic or maybe hippy clothing, hair that is definitely not permed or set, and attitudes that have a disregard for the way in which things have always been done. These women often feel misunderstood, overlooked, undervalued and can’t quite see their way forward. I can see the appeal of writing them into the stories and putting them in settings and scenarios that might otherwise be rather staid and even dull.
Reading these books again three decades after they were written, it is interesting to see how society has become significantly more tolerant and open minded during that period of time. In ‘A Village Affair,’ a lesbian affair rocks not only a family but the whole community. I don’t think that would happen today. Nor do I think that the organist in ‘The Choir’ who has an affair with a chorister’s mother and plans to marry her after her imminent divorce, would now be required to resign his post.
‘The Choir’ has several almost eternal themes with which it wrestles. Do we spend money on church meaning the building or church meaning the people? How do we make religious establishments open, accessible, welcoming to all? How do we preserve what is good and precious from the past whilst being forward looking and open to the new? The characters in Joanna Trollope’s book cover all sides of this dilemma. They are brightly coloured and their personalities are fully described. The reader gets to know them and cares what happens next.
I really enjoyed this re-reading and there are several more stories on the shelf waiting for me.