Trollope and the Church of England (review)

If much has been written on Anthony Trollope, no comprehensive study of his interest in Church matters—a prominent topic in his works—had been written so far. Jill Durey's book, therefore, fills a critical vacuum probably due to the topic being "too unfashionable . . . for secular postmodernity" (xiii).

Although Trollope—who knew clergymen well—could be critical of the established Church, the latter "never failed to hold his loyalty" (2). This is crucial as the author, who was a staunch Anglican, criticized the Church not to weaken it, but to save it from ruin and the spectre of disestablishment.

Chapter 1 is probably the least convincing part of an otherwise interesting book. Durey's thesis is that with time, Trollope's representation of the Church of England became increasingly pessimistic owing to factional struggles that he regarded as "utterly futile and destructive for the Church as a whole" (21). What is also suggested is that Trollope was equally critical of the Tractarians and the Evangelicals: "Certainly Trollope amused his readers often at the expense of the Evangelicals, but, as with the Tractarians, he also tempered his criticism" (20). This is debatable as Trollope was in reality far from impartial in his treatment of Church parties, his portrayal of Evangelicals in particular being systematically negative. By contrast, his criticism of the Tractarians was mild and confined to the ritualists (he deeply admired the pioneers of the Oxford Movement). What in fact worried Trollope was not so much the infighting within the Church as the rise of the Evangelical party which, when he started to write his Chronicles of Barsetshire, was more powerful than ever. In this respect, the defeat of the low church party in Barchester Towers (1857) or The Last Chronicle (1867) is an unmistakable clue to Trollope's brand of churchmanship. Durey also contends that "[The Broad Church's] extreme breadth of tolerance attracted Trollope's contempt" (28), her argument being based on a questionable reading of Clergymen of the Church of England (1866) in which, she argues, Trollope "seemingly" defended Colenso and his liberal views on scripture (29). The text does not bear out such an interpretation (it is devoid of irony) especially as a few months before, Trollope had published an article, "The Zulu in London," in defence of Colenso and liberalism (he even subscribed to a fund to support the then notorious bishop). Durey also tends to overlook the fact that Trollope's model clergymen after 1867 all belong to the Broad Church. In reality, a careful examination of Trollope's writings and biography reveals a gradual shift from early Tractarian affinities to Broad Church sympathies in the second half of his literary career (the intellectual climate but also his many liberal and free-thinking acquaintances clearly contributed to this change in outlook). To support her view of what she terms "Trollope's descent into pessimism" (41), Durey gives the example of two post-1867 Trollopian clergymen, Joseph Emilius (The Eustace Diamonds, 1873) and Mr. Greenwood (Marion Fay, 1882). If, admittedly, these two characters are downright villains, the argument is weakened by the fact that they are also minor and minority characters and, as such, not representative of their church. Similarly, arguing that the clergymen heroes of The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870) and Dr. Wortle's School (1881) embody the Church's trend towards "moral degeneracy" (40) seems at best far-fetched as their courage, tolerance, and charity suggest on the contrary they represent Trollope's idea of true Christianity (they are both Broad Churchmen, incidentally). The chapter is also marred by a few inaccuracies: It is, for example, exaggerated to claim that "towards the middle of the nineteenth century the high church party acquired the title Tractarian" (14), whereas in reality the Tractarians always remained a faction within the High Church, whose influence waned after 1850. Likewise, it was not the very conservative bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce who became Roman Catholic, but his two younger brothers Henry and Robert Isaac (26).

More convincingly...