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The Fixed Period Hardcover – November 8, 2008

by Anthony Trollope (Author)
3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 112 ratings
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THE FIXED PERIOD (1882) by Anthony Trollope is an unusual early science fiction novel, originally published anonymously. It is part utopia, part dystopia, part dark satire, with overtones of modern "steampunk" and quaint technological devices.

In this amazing visionary work by the British Victorian master of social mores and relationships, Britannula is an imaginary "futuristic" island country and a one-time British colony near New Zealand, and the story is narrated by the President. In Britannula, a law has been passed decreeing that all citizens who have reached the age of 67 must be removed to "The College" to undergo euthanasia, for the good of society.

What happens when the first and oldest man reaches the end of his "Fixed Period" and must prepare for his "humane" death is a fascinating study of moral and social impossibility.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    204 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Norilana Books
  4. Publication date
    November 8, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.63 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1607620065
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1607620068
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Norilana Books (November 8, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1607620065
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1607620068
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.63 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 112 ratings

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  1. Anthony Trollope

    Anthony Trollope

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    Anthony Trollope (1815-82) became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire, but he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.

    Photo by Napoleon Sarony [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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  2. David Skilton

    David Skilton

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
3.4 out of 5
112 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

reading man
3.0 out of 5 stars Trollope's S/F Novel?
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2014
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This book, while modestly entertaining, is only for the Trollope completist.

I know David Lodge has written appreciately of it, but given that Trollope wrote 47 novels, unless you have more time to read than the average Lit Prof, I suggest you concentrate on the dozen or so novels by AT that are still living literature, not relics from the crypt.

If you must read it, you'll understand the title of my review ...
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5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting . . .
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2021
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I discovered this book while reading a non-fiction book about Alzheimer's. The shocking attempt of a society to end the woes of handling the miseries and financial burden of an increasingly unproductive population of elderly by ending life at a predetermined age, whether they are still in good shape or not. An idea, in my opinion, that completely goes against the authority of God, making this work a "shocking" thriller to read.
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Steve Forsyth
4.0 out of 5 stars "Quiet, old man, or I'll Fix-Period you!" -Trollope's experimental dystopian novel.
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2012
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At the age of 65 and nearing the end of his life, Trollope was facing the inevitable decline in his health and awareness. It is not surprising, then, that in one of his last novels he would tackle the topic of old age and the impact that the elderly have on society.

THE FIXED PERIOD stands unique in Trollope's oeuvre in many ways. It's one of the few, perhaps only of his novels told in a strictly first person view - it's set 100 years in the future, so it could marginally be considered sci-fi - and it uses satire and dark irony as it's impetus for communicating its point.

In the vein of the infamous MODEST PROPOSAL of Jonathan Swift, Trollope here facetiously advocates for state-sponsored euthanasia. But, rather than writing this as a tongue-and-cheek essay, Trollope creates a story centered on a fictional future society, an offshoot of Britain called Britannula. The nation is presided over by President John Neverbend, whose memoir comprises the entire text of the novel.

Thirty years prior to the start of the novel, during the formation of the nation, Neverbend created the concept of state-mandated euthanasia as a method to curb the impact that an aging population has on its youth. In the mind of Neverbend, death would now come not after years of senility at the tax-payers or childrens expense, but would rather be effected in a ceremony of dignity and national celebration of a life lived well, and terminated (at the age of 68) prior to the shameful degradation of old age. Of course, this pageantry is all merely a show to distract the public from what is essentially murder on the state-level. Neverbend later tours the tenements the "fixed" will occupy prior to their termination, and muses on how each additional set of apartments becomes less and less luxurious, and more rudimentary, hinting at the days to come when the procedure becomes less about "dignity" and more about the convenience of shuttling the old out of our way - if only Trollope could have seen how our society has essentially done the very same thing with today's nursing homes!

In the initial chapter, Trollope (through Neverbend) explains the details of the procedure in a chillingly cold and efficient manner. From there, the story picks up as the first citizen is about to be submitted for termination, who happens to be his friend and proponent of the original law, Gabriel Crasweller. Neverbend is astonished to find that as the day for his "depositing" into the tenement approaches, the perfectly healthy Crasweller begins stalling and making excuses for why he needs "another year." The early chapter in which Neverbend methodically explains to Crasweller the necessity of his "sacrifice" is indeed one of the most chilling this author ever penned - chilling in it cold logic, and particularly chilling to the modern-day reader who has seen in the intervening years the same logic employed by the Hitlers and Stalins and Milosevics of the world... Even more chilling, as the novel progresses, is Neverbend's increasing belief that, if Crasweller will not go willingly, he will have to be forced.

The bulk of the novel follows the weeks leading up to the "fixed" day of Crasweller's confinement, as Neverbend faces increasing opposition from family, friends, and the very nation that he thought had fully supported his measure. The stage is set for an ideological and physical clash as the day arrives - will Neverbend succeed, or will other forces intervene and common sense be restored? By the novel's end, Trollope not only explores these issues, but also tackles Imperialism and Colonialism as the government of Britain involves itself in the situation.

I noted Trollope set the novel 100 years in the future (1980), but imagining what a future society would look like isn't really the main purpose here. Trollope, of course, could only go by the "technology" of his day, so the few attempts he makes at such imaginings involve steam-powered bicycles and wire-based remote communications. Aside from these "innovations" (and an odd Cricket match played with mechanical bowlers), Trollope seems to think society will mostly run the same way as it does in his day, including fixed marriages ... which of course enable him to include his required "engagement story."

Again, with the time setting, Trollope wasn't really trying to write a novel of the future, so much as the 100 year removed setting allowed him to postulate a nation that had time to rise and declare independence from Britain, and where a mindset could have evolved to conceive such a radical idea. Remember, this was the 1880s, long before issues like euthanasia, abortion, and other controversial and divisive issues became everyday conversation.

While it does have a story to tell, it certainly isn't as fleshed out as most of his other novels. But it is to his credit that even in its sparse 150 pages, these characters take on a believability as they react to the unique situation they find themselves in, particularly Crasweller. Whether or not Trollope intended any of this to be taken seriously, the World's Classic edition essay suggests the novel was written as a parallel to Trollope's efforts to bring about cremation as a standard practice in England, which itself was highly controversial in its day. As such, while it is doubtful Trollope truly wanted to invoke state-sponsored Euthanasia, still one can imagine Trollope poured a lot of his own frustrations into the character of Neverbend, who begins his quest seemingly with society's best interests in mind, but clearly falls into extreme pride as his ideas come under fire. Through the use of first-person perspective, Trollope gives us a unique understanding of and sympathy for a character that really should be considered a villain!

The novel is a fascinating one, and highly recommended! Its various arguments haunt the reader long after the story fades into the background. I could easily write twice as much as I already have about it. It is unlike any other novel in his career, and one that has the potential to spark much debate in an age where issues like abortion and homosexuality have given rise to political factions who enact black-and-white laws, and later find themselves unable to enforce these laws - for, in the end, Trollope's best point in the book is that no issue can be reduced to a "one-size-fits-all" practice. Every situation is unique!
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Charles
1.0 out of 5 stars Interestinng concept but really a rather poor story. Anthony Trollope should stick with English historical ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2015
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Interestinng concept but really a rather poor story. Anthony Trollope should stick with English historical novels. I could easily believe this was written by a ghost writer.
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Raymond Burchette
3.0 out of 5 stars Stange story
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2014
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A book that is out of normal for Trollope but written late in his life about the aged having a fixed time to die.
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Margie Simmons
3.0 out of 5 stars interesting idea but too long for the idea
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2009
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Interesting idea, and some humorous moments, but overall this book has far too many words for its story.
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Karl Janssen
2.0 out of 5 stars Lackluster dystopian tale of mandatory euthanasia
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2022
British author Anthony Trollope is usually known for writing English social dramas along the lines of Charles Dickens. His 1882 novel The Fixed Period, however, is an anomaly amongst Trollope’s prolific output. In this book, Trollope depicts a dystopian future in a fictional land. While its sheer oddity is intriguing, the result, unfortunately, is far from his best work. The Fixed Period is not dark enough to make for good science fiction, not relevant enough to succeed as social criticism, and not funny enough to qualify as satire.

The story takes place in the year 1980. Britannula, a former British colony, is an independent republic in the South Pacific populated by settlers from New Zealand. The narrator, John Neverbend, is the nation’s first president. Entrenched within the Constitution of this burgeoning nation is a law known as the “Fixed Period,” which mandates the euthanization of the elderly, under the reasoning that the prolongation of their lives constitutes a wasteful financial burden upon the state. Upon attaining the age of 67.5 years, each citizen of Britannula will be “deposited” with honors into a “college” (i.e. confined to a sort of country club) where they will live out the final year of their lives, after which they will be gently exsanguinated and their remains cremated. President Neverbend is an unwavering proponent of the Fixed Period. He finds difficulty in implementing the policy, however, when the first honoree shows a reluctance to be executed. This proposed first victim happens to be Neverbend’s best friend and a former legislator who helped him draft the Fixed Period law in the first place, only to have a change of heart later in life. As President Neverbend staunchly insists that the law be carried out, he meets with adamant resistance even within his own family.

In an attempt to liven things up, Trollope works a big cricket match into the plot. I am unfamiliar with the rules of the game, but this seems to be a futuristic version of cricket in which the players employ steam-powered machinery. Other than the occasional steam engine, Trollope isn’t much of a futurist; horses and ships are still the primary means of transportation in 1980.

Even in fictional Britannula, the narrator seems to be the only person in favor of the Fixed Period, so how did it ever become law in the first place? Neverbend’s solitary and unilateral advocacy for this death sentence makes him appear tyrannical, which undermines the sympathy the reader is obviously supposed to feel for him. Dystopian novels like Brave New World, 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 succeed because they examine multiple issues and aspects of society. Trollope’s Fixed Period, on the other hand, is strictly a one-issue dystopia, and is there really any need to discuss this particular issue? The narrative has a few mildly humorous moments, but if this is satire, what exactly would it be satirizing? It’s not like there’s a nation out there that’s actually arguing for this policy. There is some stuff in the plot about Britain messing in the affairs of its former colonies, but in this case the affair in question is so ridiculous it could hardly be applicable to Australia, New Zealand, or Canada.

A novel on voluntary euthanasia, rather than mandatory euthanasia, might actually have served a purpose, but this book just seems useless, and even worse, it’s boring. The narrator reveals his fate early on, so the ending is a foregone conclusion. The tone of the novel is lighthearted enough to make it pretty obvious that no one is going to die. The final few chapters are terribly protracted and repetitive as Trollope relentlessly restates the same points, beating the same dead horse. Readers would be better off avoiding this novelty and enjoying the books for which Trollope was famous, like the Chronicles of Barsetshire series.
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Top reviews from other countries

S. B. Kelly
3.0 out of 5 stars For curiosity value only
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2017
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This is a real oddity: a dystopian fantasy novel by Anthony Trollope, published in the last year of his life. I had not heard of it and neither had any of the well-read friends; one even accused me of making it up.

It has to be said that imagining the future in the 1980s was not Trollope's forte. He lived in an age of almost constant technological innovation but changes to the rules of cricket seem to be the best he can come up with!

It's a stodgy read but worth trying for sheer literary curiosity. It's nice and short and free on Kindle.
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Kevin J. Ford
3.0 out of 5 stars A literary curiosity
Reviewed in Canada on May 15, 2013
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I have read other Trollope novels and was tempted to buy this as I was also about to enter my "fixed period"! Those who enjoy elegant nineteenth-century English will find this up to Trollope's usual standard, but the storyline has little of interest.
I also found the colourful naming of characters irritating. An inflexible president called John Neverbend is just about tolerable, I suppose, but cricketers called Sir Lord Longstops and Sir Kennington Oval are definitely over the top! You'd have to be a real Trollope addict to find this one interesting.
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Pooklet
5.0 out of 5 stars so it's great that Amazon stocks it
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2018
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This book is hard to find in print, so it's great that Amazon stocks it. I bought it for a graduate class and was happy that I could get a hardcover for such a good price. The image on the front isn't great, but when it comes to hardcovers, you can take off the sleeve and just admire the book underneath (this one is blue with gold print). The font is a good size -- larger than usual -- and the narrative is approximately 200 pages, so not very long at all (as far as Victorian novels go, that is).

The novel's plot is interesting: it is a satirical dystopian science fiction in which individuals of Britannula are removed from society to undergo euthanasia once they reach the age of 67. Since the medieval ages, individuals have been generally considered "old" once they hit 60 (if they live that long). This is a view that has hardly changed: we largely consider retirement age as a period that culminates in decline and death.

Today, Gen X and Millenials dread the social and economic "costs" of the "baby boomers" becoming old and infirm, which makes this novel poignantly relevant, as it explores a society in which the ageing population is removed entirely. The text thus raises interesting moral and philosophical questions regarding aging, ageism, and the welfare of society.
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Ben K.
1.0 out of 5 stars NOT - First Rate Publishers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 13, 2017
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Without going into the content of the novel itself, which I doubt any modern reader would buy based on an Amazon review, I found this to be a terrible printing. The font is undersized, under-spaced and horribly formatted, the paper is cheap, it lacks any page numbers, and looks like it was edited on Microsoft Word. While saving money is nice when picking up books online, this is far too cheap in construction to be worth it. I would return it but the time I spent doing so would probably be more worth than the book. Clearly I will have to pay closer attention to who is publishing my books for now on as I cannot trust Amazon to uphold a basic standard of quality.
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Ralph Blumenau
3.0 out of 5 stars An absurdly rigid approach to euthanasia
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2013
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In this novel, written in 1882 but set in the 1980s, Trollope creates an island called Britannula (capital Gladstonopolis) which had been settled by a group of young men from New Zealand. It had been granted self-government as a republic by Great Britain (on the lines of New Zealand etc), only to have had it taken away again at the point of a British battleship's guns (called a "steam swiveller") when the government of Britannula about to implement, in accordance with a law the young men had passed, the Fixed Period. (One of the weaknesses of the book is that we are told about this dénouement right at the beginning - so the spoiler is not mine.) This law laid down that at the age of 67 its citizens should be deposited in a college for a year's preparatory and honoured stay, at the end of which year they should leave this world by way of euthanasia, to be followed by cremation.

The story is told by President John Neverbend (Trollope is not subtle in the names he bestows on several of his characters), one of the creators of the law and a fanatic and self-righteous believer in it, and in the opening chapter he eloquently explains why it is for the benefit both of society, which will not have to support unproductive members, and of the senior citizens themselves, who will be spared the often prolonged sufferings that old age brings with it.

Needless to say, a law enacted by men in their thirties and forties lost its appeal, to the disgust of John Neverbend, as they were approaching the Fixed Period. The first to reach that age was a still vigorous sexagenarian, ten years Neverbend's senior, who had been a stout supporter and friend of his, when the law had been passed. But, as I said, we have known since the beginning of the novel that the British would intervene to save him, which to an extent draws the sting from the prolonged account of how he struggles against it.

The story involves a much-courted maiden, a cricket match between the Britanullans and a team from England (in which much of the bowling is done by a machine called a steam-bowler!). And when Neverbend expresses republican sentiments, we have to wonder whether these are also Trollope's.

Trollope is here as readable as he always is. In his great novels there is often a repetition, over and over again, of what is in the minds of his characters - we accept that repetition there because of the realism: people DO mull over certain ideas in various combinations and permutations. So it is here; but I thought that here it is a matter of padding out a story rather than of developing a character. One could write a credible novel about supporters and opponents of a law ALLOWING euthanasia for the frail elderly under certain circumstances (indeed I wish we did live in such a society); but the situation in this book is too artificial, too much written with tongue-in-cheek, even to be taken seriously as an allegory. At best it can be taken as a sometimes witty jeux d'esprit. And Trollope could not find a neat end to the story because Neverbend's tale concludes abruptly when we would like to know more about the next stage of his life.
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