2/9: getting ready for the warden

Today I needed to write an introductory note to participants in a reading retreat at which I'll be talking about Trollope's Warden.  It is a novel I love, both emotionally and intellectually, and its hero, Septimus Harding, is one of my absolute favorite literary characters.  I thought I'd have a hard time writing my welcome letter, but it turned out to be easy.  I am glad that writing the note was less of a hurdle than I had imagined it would be (I had made it into a much larger task in my mind), and I am excited to have an excuse to re-read this book in the upcoming weeks.

Interestingly, in its own way it deals with the same dilemma as Tacitus' Agricola, the ethical difficulty of being a decent person amid problematic institutions.  Should I be comforted or dismayed that in the 2nd and 19th centuries people were as concerned with this issue as I am today?

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