Trollope, Anthony (trŏl`əp), 1815–82, one of the great English novelists. After spending seven unhappy years in London as a clerk in the general post office, he transferred (1841) to Ireland and became post-office inspector; he held various positions in the postal service until his resignation in 1867. He published several unsuccessful novels before he achieved fame with
The Warden (1855), the first in the series of Barsetshire novels. Others in the series are
Barchester Towers (1857),
Doctor Thorne (1858),
Framley Parsonage (1861),
The Small House at Allington (1864), and
The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). In his later novels Trollope shifted his interest from the rural scene to urban society and politics. These books include
The Claverings (1867),
Phineas Finn (1869),
He Knew He Was Right (1869),
The Eustace Diamonds (1873),
The Way We Live Now (1875),
The Prime Minister (1876), and
The American Senator (1877). His extensive journeys, many in the service of the post office, resulted in various books of travel, including an account of his visit to the United States. He was an industrious and prolific author, and besides his novels and travel books he wrote several biographical works and a highly praised autobiography (1883). According to Henry James, Trollope's greatness lies in his "complete appreciation of the usual." The Barsetshire novels, upon which his fame rests, depict in detail the lives of a group of ordinary but interesting people who live in the county of Barsetshire. The series as a whole presents a fascinating microcosm of Victorian society.
Trollope's mother,
Frances "Fanny" Trollope, 1780–1863, was also a writer. Her acerbic account of her travels in the United States, The Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), was offensive to Americans but was a bestseller in England and began her career as a successful writer. She continued to write travel books and started a steady stream of novels, of which the best are The Vicar of Wrexhill (1837) and The Widow Barnaby and its sequels (1839–56).
Bibliography
See his autobiography ed. by M. Sadleir (1883, repr. 1968); biographies of him by M. Sadleir (1927, new ed. 1961) and H. Walpole (1928); studies by A. O. J. Cockshut (1955), D. Smalley (1969), A. G. Freedman (1971), J. Pope-Hennessy (1971), W. M. Kendrick (1980), R. H. Super (1988), S. Wall (1989), and N. J. Hall (1992); L. P. and R. P. Stebbins, The Trollopes (1945, repr. 1968); biography of Frances Trollope by P. Neville-Sington (1998).
Trollope, Anthony
Anthony Trollope, oil painting by S. Laurence, 1865; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
(credit: Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London)
(born April 24, 1815, London, Eng.—died Dec. 6, 1882, London) English novelist. He worked for the post office in England and Ireland from 1834 to 1867. Beginning in 1844 he produced 47 novels, writing mainly before breakfast at a fixed rate of 1,000 words an hour. His best-loved and most famous works are the six interconnected Barsetshire novels, including Barchester Towers (1857) and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). Depicting the social scene in an imaginary English county, they abound in memorable characters and atmosphere. The Palliser novels, dealing with political issues and featuring the character Plantagenet Palliser, include the sharply satirical The Eustace Diamonds (1872). Other works, such as He Knew He Was Right (1869), show great psychological penetration. The Way We Live Now (1875), with its ironic view of the Victorian upper classes, is especially highly regarded.
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