Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Anthony Trollope


‘…Sir Walter Scott had whetted the British taste for historical fiction, and was throughout Trollope’s life one of his favorite novelists.  Scott’s successors in that genre, G.P.R. James and William Harrison Ainsworth, were in full career as Trollope turned to his third novel [La Vendee].

He had read with pleasure “the delightful Memoirs of Madame de Rochejaquelin,” translated by Sir Walter Scott in 1826, which gave him and intimate and moving account of the revolt of the people of La Vendee…’

The text above comes from Robert H. Super’s “The Chronicler of Barsetshire: A Life of Anthony Trollope”.  Novelist Anthony Trollope was born this day, April 24th, in 1815.  Despite the sound starting point (Scott's translation), Trollope’s foray into historical fiction was not received well, either by critics or the public.  Certainly he had better success with his Barsetshire and Palliser novels, which are among the most popular ever written. 

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