Of Course He Forgave Her

It's embarrassing to admit it, but it's taken me since late February to read Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? and that time included a week's holiday when I really should have made more progress. The funny thing is that, despite various discontinuities, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, which is of almost uniformly excellent quality. In fact, I found it genuinely difficult to put down for the last three hundred pages or so - regardless of the fact that I was sure of the direction of almost every narrative strand involved. The only exception was my uncertainty as to what Trollope would do with Kate Vavasor, and in the end he pretty much does nothing.

Over the final stretch of the novel it seemed to me that Trollope starts to come alive to the possibilities of a serious exploration of the world of politics. Prior to that the idea of being an MP simply seems to function as a backdrop for the rather splendid ruin of George Vavasor. He's certainly a gent who would have been up to his neck in it in the recent expenses scandal, and for a good three-quarters of the story Trollope seems to deal with our political leaders at that level, cynically distancing himself from their doings. But then as Plantagenet Palliser begins to assume real depth - with his forgiveness of Glencora - masterfully done - suddenly the Parliamentary world takes on a new light, and there's an extraordinarily powerful conversation between Palliser and John Grey that seems to go to the centre of Trollope's concerns regarding the necessity of a public life.

Here's one peculiarly resonant line: 'I don't see why a man should not live honestly and be a Member of Parliament as well,' continued Mr. Palliser, when he had been silent for a few minutes. That hesitant, pregnant, shared silence says a great deal about Trollope (and his creations, Palliser and Grey) as men of the world who've been around more than a little, but who somehow contrive to keep some kind of faith.

I'm hoping that the guys who are currently negotiating for power in the UK have something of the decency and perspicacity of their (fictional) forerunners.