'I recently read a column in the National Post by Barbara Amiel in which she mentioned Septimus Harding, in passing. He is one of my favorite characters in fiction, and a subject that figures large, in Anthony Trollope's novel, Barchester Towers. He is a prime example of the ordinary as truly extraordinary.
The fabric of the novel clearly displays the seven cardinal sins, shown in relief in the carefully crafted clergy, But throughout, the threads of this seemingly ordinary man Septimus appear from time to time , always in the background, except at the conclusion.
In the BBC film production of Barchester Towers, artistic license was taken,in that the paragraph about Septimus Harding that ends the novel has been moved and placed instead in the film as a eulogy provided by his son-in-law. But as I say again, in the book it is Trollope's own concluding narrative paragraph. Clearly it is of great importance to Trollope as he takes it upon himself to describe his own feelings toward his own creation, rather than the film narrative device of having another character speak of him.
Herein goes the paragraph: " The author now leaves him (Harding) in the hands of his readers; not as a hero, not as a man to be admired and talked of, not as a man who should be toasted at public dinners and spoken of with conventional absurdity as a perfect divine, but as a good man without guile, believing humbly in the religion which he has striven to teach, and guided by the precepts which he has striven to learn."
One can clearly see why the BBC had to place this wonderful paragraph as dialogue to include it. One can also clearly see why Trollope is willing to place Septimus Harding at the mercy of his readers. One can clearly see the place in this life of the Septimus Hardings of this world is so obscured by the lurid and extravagant that we can not see them through the haze. When a master like Trollope brings them into life we are humbled by their majesty.
The fabric of the novel clearly displays the seven cardinal sins, shown in relief in the carefully crafted clergy, But throughout, the threads of this seemingly ordinary man Septimus appear from time to time , always in the background, except at the conclusion.
In the BBC film production of Barchester Towers, artistic license was taken,in that the paragraph about Septimus Harding that ends the novel has been moved and placed instead in the film as a eulogy provided by his son-in-law. But as I say again, in the book it is Trollope's own concluding narrative paragraph. Clearly it is of great importance to Trollope as he takes it upon himself to describe his own feelings toward his own creation, rather than the film narrative device of having another character speak of him.
Herein goes the paragraph: " The author now leaves him (Harding) in the hands of his readers; not as a hero, not as a man to be admired and talked of, not as a man who should be toasted at public dinners and spoken of with conventional absurdity as a perfect divine, but as a good man without guile, believing humbly in the religion which he has striven to teach, and guided by the precepts which he has striven to learn."
One can clearly see why the BBC had to place this wonderful paragraph as dialogue to include it. One can also clearly see why Trollope is willing to place Septimus Harding at the mercy of his readers. One can clearly see the place in this life of the Septimus Hardings of this world is so obscured by the lurid and extravagant that we can not see them through the haze. When a master like Trollope brings them into life we are humbled by their majesty.
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