THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (2/5)

Founded in 1994, THE COURSE offers art history lectures, opera and literature courses, guided museum visits and London walks.

In this 5 part series, Jeremy Musson, will explore the way in which the English country house has been portrayed in English literature. By studying various authors, the architecture and household roles of the country house underline characterization, scene and mood and how this in turn shaped our view of the country house in English visual culture. The authors’ personal experiences will be examined and considered for the value of the country house in terms of plot. Used as a vehicle for gathering a group of characters together under one roof for a defined space of time, the country house has long provided a convenient setting in which, as Blake Morrison has commented, tensions can develop, love affairs begin and catastrophes unfold.

CHARLES DICKENS AND ANTHONY TROLLOPE

In the second lecture, we will examine how these two great mid-Victorian writers used country houses in their fiction in different ways: Dickens for atmosphere, and Trollope for character. The former suffered financial hardship during a London childhood and yet produced vivid portraits of vast, rambling houses, such as the eponymous Bleak House and depressing manors like Chesney Wold. Trollope was born into a gentry-clergy background. He became an enthusiastic hunter which gave him first-hand experience of the lives and routines of country houses. In the Barchester Chronicles he perceptively describes the houses of the aristocracy, gentry and clergy to underline character and heighten the drama.