Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 1: The Executor / The Rector

  

The Executor (1861)
The Rector (1861)

Welcome!

This is the first in a series of planned group reads encompassing the works by Margaret Oliphant now known as the "Chronicles of Carlingford":

The Executor (1861)
The Rector (1861)
The Doctor's Family (1861)
Salem Chapel (1863)
The Perpetual Curate (1864)
Miss Marjoribanks (1866)
Phoebe Junior (1876)

The last four works in this series are novels, but the first three are shorter works.

The plan is to read The Executor and The Rector, which are short stories, during April; and The Doctor's Family, a novella, during May.

Because these are short stories, they do not lend themselves to the usual chapter-by-chapter highlighting and discussion. Instead, I would ask that you read each of them during an allotted time period and then post your reactions here. There can then be open discussion of each:

The Executor: 4th - 18th April
The Rector: 19th - 30th April

By all means read both works whenever you like; but I would prefer to keep the discussion of the two separate, so please post your comments within the indicated timeframe.

All of the "Cronicles of Carlingford" have been reissued in Virago editions except for The Executor, which may be found online including at Project Gutenberg. The Rector is also available as a standalone at Project Gutenberg (here).

The entire Carlingford series may also be found inexpensively on Kindle as part of the Delphi "Complete Works" series.

Background:

Margaret Oliphant Wilson was born in Scotland in 1828, and began writing at an early age. Her first novel, Passages in the Life of Mrs Margaret Maitland, was published when she was only twenty-one, and was a critical success. She followed it two years later with Caleb Field.

Both of these novels have a religious theme: the former deals with the Scottish Free Church, while the latter is an historical novel about the Puritans.

In 1851, Margaret Wilson met William Blackwood of Blackwood's Magazine and forged an important working partnership that would last throughout her career. Many of her stories first appeared in Blackwood's (including The Executor and The Rector), to which she would also contribute numerous articles and literary criticism.

The following year, Margaret Wilson married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant; subsequently publishing as "Mrs Oliphant". The marriage was happy but marked by tragedy, with three of six children dying in infancy before Frank Oliphant's own health failed. The family travelled to Florence and then Rome in the hope of his improving heath, but Oliphant died leaving a widow and three young children. His medical needs had drained his family's resources, and when Margaret Oliphant returned to Britain she was forced to put aside her artistic ambitions and write for popular success, in order to support her children.

Subsequently she published well over 100 books---her domestic fiction, historical fiction and tales of the supernatural finding favour with the public. She also wrote straight histories, biographies and travel books, and continued to contribute articles and criticism to Blackwood's.

The works that would come to be known as the "Chronicles of Carlingford" were published between 1861 - 1876. Almost immediately these stories drew comparisons with Anthony Trollope's popular "Barchester" novels.

Other points of comparison with Trollope soon emerged, not all of them positive. Even as Trollope had damaged his critical reputation by revealing how he treated his writing as "work" rather than "art", Oliphant's very fecundity drew disapproval. Though her financial need was understood, she was nevertheless criticised for writing too much, too fast, and for not revising her work sufficiently before publication.

Later critics would also deplore Oliphant's apparent acceptance of the social norms of her time and her lack of social criticism.

This, however, must be understood in terms of Oliphant's religious belief---which marks one very significant difference between the Barchester and Carlingford series. Whereas Trollope was interested in the social interactions of his characters and shied away from investigating matters of faith - even in his clerical characters - Oliphant frequently made this the focus of her works.

Nevertheless, these factors saw Oliphant considered a second-tier Victorian novelist rather than one of the "greats"; and it was not until midway through the 20th century that her work began to undergo critical reappraisal.

I think that's probably enough for now. :)

Please check in and let us know if you will be participating (or just lurking) in this group read!

Also please let me know if the suggested framework for this month's reading is acceptable, or if you think something else might work better.

As noted elsewhere--I'm here and looking forward to reading these stories. The framework you propose suits me.

Oops! Somehow I missed that this read was happening. I'd love to join in when I get copies of some of the books. One of my reading resolutions for this year was to read more Scotland, and Margaret Oliphant was high on my list, but I only have a couple of her books. Will check around for where they are.

I’m also likely to join in. I’ve intended to read Margaret Oliphant for years and have never gotten to her. It wasn’t on my radar, but considering the April reads are short, I should be able to them with the group. I own The Perpetual Curate as a used green virago and have the rest on my kindle.

I've got my copies ready: five original green Viragos (6 titles) and one ebook from Project Gutenberg.

Sounds great - will try to join in!

>5 NinieB:, >6 SassyLassy:, >7 japaul22:, >8 CDVicarage:, >9 kaggsy:

Thank you all for joining in!

Margaret Oliphant is a writer that I have never gotten to before either, for some reason. This is exactly the point of this series of group reads, getting to those neglected authors and plugging our gaps.

When we get through these three short works we can have a proper talk about how to proceed with the novels, and make sure everyone has plenty of warning. :)

BTW I want to finish off my current read - Valley Of the Dolls: technically a Virago! - before I read The Executor, so I won't be posting comments for a couple of days.

However anyone else who finishes should absolutely go ahead and post, and get the ball rolling.

I've read The Executor. It is very short!

I enjoyed the characters and the plot set up. In a short time, I became pretty invested in John Brown and Bessie, and also curious about Phoebe Thomson. I hope they all make appearances in subsequent novels, but I know absolutely nothing about the series, so I'm not sure.

My main question would be about the likelihood of an executor, who is apparently not a relative, being charged with finding a long lost relative and at the same time having the benefit of the inheritance if he fails. Sounds like a pretty hefty conflict of interest and I wonder how typical it was.

This premise could have easily been spun into a long Victorian novel, so I'm curious if we'll ever get the back story of why John Brown was named in the will at all.

Did everyone else have the rather odd poem "The Origin of Species: A New Song" included at the end? Or was that just a kindle edition oddity?

>12 japaul22:

Thank you for making a start, Jennifer!

The poem is also in the PG version: I think it's a relic of the original Blackwood's publication; it looks like the two were bound together to fill a certain number of pages.

>12 japaul22:

I agree that The Executor does an excellent job of raising questions it doesn't answer! - will they be answered later on??

What is the relationship (if any) between Mrs Christian and Nancy? Why did Dr Rider give up on Bessie so easily? Why did Mrs Thomson allow (as we suppose she did) the Christians to believe themselves her heirs?

I'm no expert on legal niceties but I don't believe there is anything preventing an executor from also being a residuary legatee. However, a case like this, with such a large bequest in the event of certain other events *not* happening, is surely unusual and dangerous.

It feels like a test of John Brown's character---but why??

You're quite right that we have enough here for a novel!

>12 japaul22: >14 lyzard: All great points! Maybe there's some explanation in that we are told that Mrs. Thomson was "an old witch with three cats, and a heart like the nether millstone," which according to the OED is "the lower of the two millstones, which remains stationary, and is exceptionally hard".

What really strikes me is the form of the story--the almost bewildering plunge right into the heart of the extraordinarily tense scene at the reading of the will.

Read this series a few years ago and loved them especially Miss Marjoribanks!

Hello everyone, I found this thread thanks to >15 NinieB: in the Category Challenge. I have got an ebook ready and will start reading today.

>17 MissWatson: Yay, welcome Birgit!

This is a re-read for me, but am enjoying it.

>15 NinieB: Yes, I was struck by the opening of the story, too, although I rather liked being put right in the middle of it. I also enjoyed the beginning of Chapter II, where we walk down the street and get a glimpse into each of the households, including descriptions of the interiors as a way of introducing the people who lived there.

FYI: without spoiling, just to mention that Dr Rider is the "doctor" of The Doctor's Family.

>19 kac522: I didn't dislike the beginning--but it was startling after the long back story lead up of so many 3-deckers!

>18 NinieB: Thank you!
>19 kac522: Yes, that scene at the beginning of Chapter II is lovely. And I like how we are put into people's heads and see their reactions the will.

>16 Cornishgirl:

Welcome, Mary, thank you for joining us! :)

>17 MissWatson:

I'm glad you found out, Birgit---it's hard to know where to advertise! :D

>19 kac522:

Hi, Kathy!

>15 NinieB:, >19 kac522:, >21 MissWatson:

I think this kind of in medias res approach is quite unusual for Victorian writing, even in a short story.

I have finished The Executor and I find all of the characters very lifelike, people you could meet everyday and everywhere. And it leaves me curious to know more about all of them.

I'm lurking here until you reach The perpetual curate which is where I am up to in the series, and the first of the books that is currently accessible to me! Glad everyone is enjoying it so far.

I'm restraining myself from launching into The Doctor's Family.

>24 MissWatson:

Thanks for that, Birgit. I found Bessie a bit too perfect - I'm too much of a cynic for perfect resignation in a situation where frustration or resentment seems more "natural" to me - but of course this reflects Oliphant's faith and also makes sense from the point of John Brown's changing attitude towards her.

>25 Sakerfalcon:

Hi, Claire! Thanks for letting us know you're lurking. :)

>26 NinieB:

Not too long to wait now! :D

Speaking of which---

We need to wrap our consideration of The Executor. Can everyone please post final comments or, if you haven't already, just let us know that you read it?

Thank you!

>27 lyzard: I thought that Bessie didn't really know how to say no, and that she had nobody to encourage her to do so. Resignation to one's lot is probably easier if it involves at least physical comfort. Like a roof over your head and food on the table. There were moments when I thought John Brown was having a kind of midlife crisis: a sudden event makes him reflect on his previous conduct. His decision to change for the better of course feels very Victorian.

>29 MissWatson:

I meant more during the reading of the will. If she was eventually prepared to marry for a roof over her (and her mother's) head - and no criticism of her for that - then having the prospect of that roof so unexpectedly taken away should have evoked more of a reaction. She could of course resign herself afterwards, but I don't think any amount of "proper self-control" gets you through that so calmly.

>29 MissWatson: Ah yes, that bit was surprising. I think it's one of the drawbacks of the short form that we don't get a proper sense of passing time. Maybe she had no real understanding of what the will would mean in the long run, but the long time without sufficient income from teaching must have been wearing her down.

Sorry, people! - been very tied up over the past few days.

To move on to The Rector---

This is an interesting story in that it deals with something that doesn't come up much in general 19th century fiction*: the qualifications of a minister for his profession.

Those of you who read in this area would be aware that through the 18th and well into the 19th century, there were a lot of "unqualified" ministers simply because the church was (along with the army and the law) one of the very few acceptable professions for a gentleman. Many younger sons became ministers without any real sense of vocation---and without it being considered particularly necessary. (It was taken for granted that a young English gentleman would have sufficient faith of the "right" kind.)

Mansfield Park is interesting in this respect: Edmund Bertram is unusual in his time because he does have a sense of vocation. Conversely we find Henry Crawford briefly drawn to the church not out any calling - hardly! - but because (since the stage was verboten) it offered an opportunity to "perform" for an audience.

In addition to the upheavals of the Oxford Movement, which we have discussed before in other contexts, and which resulted in religion being taken more seriously (if I can put it like that!), over the 19th century a whole new raft of professions opened up---as well as others becoming more acceptable (like journalism, which we see a lot in novels)---meaning that ministers were more likely to be men who felt an honest calling.

(However, that there were still "bad" ministers we see, for example, in Barchester Towers, where Dr Stanhope holds a responsible position yet has lived for years in Italy and left his curate to do all his work.)

Oliphant's Mr Proctor is an interesting case: there is no suggestion that his faith and his calling weren't sincere in the first instance; but we see here that being a good minister requires much more...

(*I say "general fiction" because associated with the Oxford Movement was a branch of novel-writing specifically devoted to issues of religion and ministerial work. Most of these are simply lectures and propaganda in disguise and are pretty bad.)

I finished this last week and enjoyed it very much, saving any comments for later.

I read The Rector yesterday. Enjoyable, but different than the Executor. I was less interested in the characters in The Rector, and I thought, intentionally on Oliphant's part, the crux of the story was more Mr. Proctor finding a career that suited him rather than focusing on multiple characters.

So what is a "perpetual curate"? I admit I first thought it was just an adjective (always a curate!) and then realized it must be some sort of title/job descriptor. :-)

>33 MissWatson:

Thanks, Birgit!

>34 japaul22:

Perpetual curates were quite an ancient concept. Originally the term meant that, once appointed, they could not be removed from their position except via the ecclesiastical courts (with "curate" simply holding the original meaning of providing the "cure of souls").

However, later the appointment of ministers became the purview of the landholders, as we are familiar with in classic novels: these men were rectors or vicars according to their situation, and the concept of the perpetual curate faded.

It was revived in the early 19th century due to church / parish reform across Britain. A lot of new parishes were created, often by breaking up older, larger ones. The ministers appointed to these new areas were dubbed "perpetual curates" rather than rectors or vicars: they were paid a salary out of a administrative fund and had no right to tithes or other supplements to their income. It was a cheap way of filling the gaps. But because these situations were badly paid with little chance of better or of advancement, they tended to be filled by men who were poor and desperate, or of lower social standing.

It was a practice that lasted about fifty years and began to be phased out about 1870, so just around when Oliphant is writing. (Perhaps that's what the novel is about??)

Hmm, well. We're certainly not getting the same responses this time as we did for The Executor!

Anyway, can I ask everyone to check in, let us know where you're up to, and post any comments (or why you didn't feel moved to comment!).

Thank you. :)

I've finished both. Because they're both so short there doesn't seem much to say! The Executor seems too stuffed with information and, I'm assuming, much of this (or the consequences of it) will resurface in the later stories. The Rector, by contrast, seems a discrete story and doesn't have much in it - the new rector arrives and then goes away again.

I'm not, generally, a fan of short stories and these two certainly left me wanting more.

>37 CDVicarage:

Thanks for checking in, Kerry. there's certainly less ambiguity and unanswered questions about The Rector, though it's subject matter is serious enough. And there are some sharp points made in the gap between Mr Proctor's conception of himself as both a minister and a man (and a marital target) and reality.

I've finished, but I think everything I would have wanted to note you have done in >32 lyzard: and >35 lyzard:. It is rather refreshing to honestly assess a sincere clergyman who is not accustomed to dealing with very real human issues.

I rather liked the last paragraph, hinting at the future of the Rector.

Though the two stories are generally discrete, I think it's important to note those small points where they do touch.

This remark gives us a better idea of the geographic and social layout of Carlingford, and also (as we go forward) a better grasp of Dr Rider's life:

St Roque's was not more than a pleasant walk from the best quarter of Carlingford, on the north side of the town, thank heaven! which one could get at without the dread passage of that new horrid suburb, to which young Mr Rider, the young doctor, was devoting himself...

The 'burbs were indeed a new thing at this time and as we see not everyone approved of them---chiefly because they tended to break down social barriers and bring the different classes (or anyway, the upper middle-class and the lower middle-class) into proximity.

(Those of you who were with us for the group read of Emily Eden's The Semi-Detached House will remember it was very much about this situation, though in a much more positive way.)

The other important detail is this:

It happened one day, while still in this condition of mind, that the Rector was passing through Grove Street on his way home. He was walking on the humbler side of the street, where there is a row of cottages with little gardens in front of them---cheap houses, which are contented to be haughtily overlooked by the staircase windows and blank walls of their richer neighbours on the other side of the road...

Grove Street is where the woman lies dying, and Mr Proctor has his professional crisis; but it is also where Mrs Christian and Bessie were living in The Executor, so that this passage throws some more light upon Carlingford, but also back upon the first story.

The other thing to highlight is this:

The Church had been Low during the last Rector's reign---profoundly Low---lost in the deepest abysses of Evangelicalism. A determined inclination to preach to everybody had seized upon that good man's brain; he had half emptied Salem Chapel, there could be no doubt; but, on the other hand, he had more than half filled the Chapel of St Roque, half a mile out of Carlingford, where the perpetual curate, young, handsome, and fervid, was on the very topmost pinnacle of Anglicanism...

We see here why people tend to link Oliphant's Carlingford stories with Trollope's Barchester books, though there's an important difference. Trollope's disapproval of the Low Church people was as much social as religious - his Evangelicals aren't "proper" ladies and gentlemen- whereas Oliphant is focused upon the performance of religious duties and serving the people.

This remark therefore provides a broad backdrop for The Rector and its central question of what makes a good minister.

>39 kac522:

Thanks, Kathy!

It will be interesting to discover whether we see him again in his new guise.

>43 kac522: I think I read somewhere that Carlingford is loosely based on Birkenhead, and the expansion it went through during this time. And the specific named streets are based on areas in Birkenhead, "old" and "new". If I remember correctly this becomes more important in The Doctor's Family.

I've been quiet for lack of anything interesting to say!

>43 kac522: I wonder if anyone has tried to make a map of Carlingford?

I rather liked this for the unusual portrait of a minister struggling with his fitness for the work he has taken up. I also noticed that this crisis occurs in his middle age, just as with the solicitor. And Mrs Proctor was a wonderful character!

>43 kac522:

Thanks again. :)

>44 NinieB:

Fair enough! Thank you for checking in, anyway.

As with Barsetshire? I haven't come across anything like that yet, but I'll keep an eye out.

>45 MissWatson:

Thanks, Birgit!

I thought it was an interesting case of Proctor doing the wrong thing for the right reasons---and in fact a fairly rare case of a Victorian male putting his womenfolk first. Probably that gesture deserved a better outcome.

Okay! - final comments, lack of comments and check-ins, please! :)

Thanks to all of you who have participated here. For tidiness and ease of access, I will set up a separate thread for The Doctor's Family over the new couple of days, and will hope to see you all there (and feeling chatty!).

>47 lyzard: I need to add The Doctor's Family to my May reading list!

I'll be here for the next instalment.

>48 NinieB:

You do! :)

>49 MissWatson:

Excellent!

The thread is now up for The Doctor's Family, hope to see you all there!

I just found out that Mrs. Oliphant reused the story of The Executor in the 1866 novel Brownlows.

I've just come and found this as am reading the Virago of The Rector/ The Doctor's Family for my Novellas in November project. I'm loving the writing and the immersive experience of being in Carlingford. I really liked Mrs Proctor and I'm not sure I've come across a religious man who is shown such a stark view of his human failiings, which was very interesting. I'm reading The Doctor's Family now and will pop in to talk about that (if that's OK!) and I really want to read all the rest now but alas was trying to finish Barchester before I embarked on these. What to do?!

>53 LyzzyBee: Welcome! We did Salem Chapel here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/334971#n7642220

and Liz (lyzard) is currently planning another Virago for February--see the end of the Salem Chapel thread.

She's also planning a group read of Trollope's Rachel Ray in December, if you'd like to leave Barchester for a bit. You can follow Liz's thread here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/336338#7640644

>53 LyzzyBee:

You're very welcome to join us!

There is a separate thread for The Doctor's Family, which may be found here; and as Kathy notes, the thread for Salem Chapel is here.

Feel free to add any comments: our group read threads are never closed. :)

Where are you up to with your Trollope reads? Those are a significant commitment, so it would be understandable if you didn't feel like tackling both series at once. We won't be progressing with the Carlingford books until next February at the earliest (we are still discussing a date for a group read of The Perpetual Curate), so there's no rush to make a decision about whether you can (or want to) do both.

>55 lyzard: Thank you! I have the Doctor's Family thread saved and will dive into that later. I have only got up to Dr Thorne in Trollope which is a bit of a nightmare, but I do love these Oliphants so I think I'll try for a bit of catching up in the new year!

>56 LyzzyBee:

We would love to have you join us for future group reads but please don't feel obliged if the timing doesn't work for you. :)