Résumé
Résumé de Les Tours de Barchester
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Readers who love comedy of manners, shrewd portraits of vain and kindly people, and church and village politics will enjoy this novel. It also suits lovers of tender romance.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Why would a man kneel beside his dying father to pray for forgiveness, then rise and send a telegram to London within the hour? In Barchester Towers, Archdeacon Grantly does exactly that. The old bishop is slipping away, a government is about to fall, and the archdeacon thinks his one chance at a bishopric will be gone if he waits.
Anthony Trollope published this comic novel in the 1850s as the second of his Barsetshire books. A new bishop arrives in a quiet cathedral town with a domineering wife and a greasy, ambitious chaplain, and the old clergy decide to fight. You will meet the people who fight the war and see what each of them really wants.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A bishop's deathbed starts the race for powerFree
- 2Mr. Harding's quiet life meets a changed hospital
- 3The Proudies arrive and Mrs. Proudie rules
- 4Mr. Slope plans to be bishop in all but name
- 5The Stanhopes bring charm, debt, and scheming
- 6The hospital becomes the test of strength
- 7Eleanor Bold is courted by the wrong men
- 8Ambition and worldliness fill the church
- 9Women, money, and marriage shape every fate
- 10A talkative narrator makes the war a comedy
Point clé 1 sur 10
A bishop's deathbed starts the race for power
The novel opens at the bedside of old Bishop Grantly, who is dying so slowly that doctors keep announcing the end and keep being wrong. His son, Archdeacon Grantly, has long run the diocese and has been given to understand, by a whisper rather than a promise, that he will succeed his father. The trouble is that the government that whispered is about to fall.
The archdeacon sits by the bed and calculates his chances like a gambler. Then he asks himself whether he truly wants his father to die, and the question shames him. He sinks to his knees and prays to be forgiven. The old bishop dies without a struggle, yet the archdeacon's mind jumps at once to the prime minister and a telegram. Before it goes, Mr. Harding remembers that the government is already out, and the post goes to Dr. Proudie.
Trollope does not scold his archdeacon. A lawyer may hope to be a judge, he says, so a priest may hope to be a bishop.
Trollope shows that ambition in the clergy is human, and he laughs at it without cruelty.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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About 13 h 10 min to read.Commencez 90 jours gratuitsPaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Archdeacon Grantly
- Proud, worldly son of the dead bishop, who guards the old church order and fights the new palace party with all his strength.
- Mr. Harding
- Gentle precentor and former warden of Hiram's Hospital, who wants peace, music, and his old home, and hates to be talked about.
- Dr. Proudie
- The new Bishop of Barchester, a tidy and cautious man who wants high church honors and finds it hard to resist his wife.
- Mrs. Proudie
- The bishop's wife, strict about the Sabbath and determined to govern the diocese through her husband and her favored clergymen.
- Mr. Slope
- The bishop's chaplain, a clever and clammy preacher who wants power, a rich wife, and a better post.
- Eleanor Bold
- Mr. Harding's younger daughter, a young widow with a baby, proud and independent, who wants to help her father and live in peace.
- Signora Neroni
- The lame, beautiful daughter of Dr. Stanhope, who collects admirers from her sofa and finds clergymen entertaining.
- Mr. Arabin
- A learned Oxford fellow, shy in company, brought to Barchester to oppose Slope, and unexpectedly lonely.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 181,500 words
- Reading timeAbout 12 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Les Tours de Barchester
What is Barchester Towers about?
It follows a struggle for power in a cathedral town after a new bishop arrives with a strong-willed wife and a pushy chaplain. The old clergy resist, and a hospital post, a deanery, and a young widow's hand all become prizes.
Do I need to read The Warden first?
No. Barchester Towers recalls the earlier events briefly in its opening chapters, so you can start here. Readers who know Mr. Harding's story from The Warden will enjoy meeting him again, but the novel stands on its own.
Who is Mr. Slope and what does he want?
Obadiah Slope is the bishop's chaplain, a low church preacher who wants real control of the diocese. He also hopes to marry a rich widow and win a high church post such as the deanery.
Is Barchester a real place?
No, Barchester and its county of Barsetshire are invented by Trollope. They are based on cathedral towns of southern England and appear in six of his novels. The characters and quarrels are fictional, though the church politics of the 1850s are real.
What is the main message of Barchester Towers?
Trollope suggests that ambition, vanity, and money affect even holy people, and that kindness and honesty matter more than rank. He uses humor to show weaknesses with sympathy rather than scorn.
Cite this edition
Trollope, Anthony. Barchester Towers. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/barchester-towers.
Trollope, A. (2026). Barchester towers. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/barchester-towers (Original work published 1857)
Trollope, Anthony. Barchester Towers. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/barchester-towers.
@book{trollope2026barchester,
author = {Trollope, Anthony},
title = {Barchester Towers},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/barchester-towers},
note = {First published 1857}
}
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