Dr Thorne

J. D. Watson, "The Aspen," Good Words, 18631

It was in mid-September 1999 that our Barsetshire Marathon reached Dr Thorne. We had our conversation between then and early December when when we took off a month until New Year's Day. People had been invited to read Christmas and other short stories by Anthony Trollope. Once again each week I wrote an essay or essays in the form of postings to Trollope-l on the chapters we had read for that week. These "facilitating" postings of mine continued to be close readings of the text whenever I could, with some also simply in response to others, some on Trollope's sources and attitudes, some on the contemporary scene. Once again the conversation slowly emerges and moves back and forth on all sorts of things: character, scenes, personal impulses when we read. I have included many postings by other members as I could find and threaded them in according to a date or where they seemed to make sense. There were far fewer and somewhat different individuals posting for the third book of the Barsetshire series than there had been for the first two. It was also a quieter read: there was much less controversy. Sometimes this happens after a previous book has sparked strong controversy and participation. Some of us were exhausted after The Warden and Barchester Towers. So the group of people now participating included: Catherine Crean, Sigmund Eisner, Jeremy Godfrey, Laurie Guilfoyle, Beth J, Penny Klein, Patricia Maroney, Howard Merkin, Michael Powe, Duffy Pratt, Teresa Ransom, Angela Richardson, Jill Spriggs, Gene Stratton, Tyler Tichelaar, Natalie H. Tyler, Judy Warner, Dagny Wilson, Robert Wright, and Todd Yelrom. I also include parts of three "journal-essays" written by my daughter, Isobel Alice Moody, when she was about 14.

Phase I

Phase II

Phase III

Journal-Essays on Dr Thorne

by Isobel Moody, with some help from her mother, Ellen.

Trollope's Apollo


J. Pettie, "The Country Surgeon," Good Words, 18621


1 As there aren't any good original illustrations for Dr Thorne, I have chosen pictures for this conversation in the "idyllic style," the one Millais used and Trollope seems to have strongly preferred for his books.


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