Anthony Trollope doesn't appear to be doing so well compared to his 19th century peers. He doesn't address giant moral problems like Dostoevsky or provide the scathing social critique of a Dickens, but he describes interpersonal relationships far better than either of those writers. Combined with his more gentle analysis of social structure, he seems to me to be a precursor of Robertson Davies. Still the marketers have a hard time selling him. The back of my edition of Can You Forgive Her includes the line "a depth of insight into human conduct which will surprise those who know him only by his unjust reputation as the efficient manufacturer of entertaining novels of country life." Damn, things are bad when you have to acknowledge that everyone thinks he sucks.
Anyway, I am about to start the Palliser sequence of books which like the Barchester books are both thick and numerous. I can usually manage one a year, so I should be done with these in 2011 or so.
Monday, August 22, 2005
He's got a bad reputation and it is just talk talk talk
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
What gives? No GWAR lyrics suitable for a Trollope entry? How 'bout:
"So you think you are very smart, and you know many words." On second thought, mebbe you should save that for when you write about Finnegan's Wake.
B
Nice, Braxton, I am so using that later, maybe multiple times.
Post a Comment