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102-583: Anthony Trollope ( / ˈ t r ɒ l ə p / TROL -əp ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era . Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire , which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire . He also wrote novels on political, social, and gender issues, and other topical matters. Trollope's literary reputation dipped during

204-483: A New York Times editorial challenging Misplaced Pages's categorization of American female novelists within a distinct category , which precipitated a significant amount of press coverage describing that Misplaced Pages's approach to categorization as sexism. For her, the public representation of women novelists within another category marginalizes and defines women novelists like herself outside of a field of "American novelists" dominated by men. However, other commentators, discussing

306-510: A Novelist", highlight such moral and ethical justifications for their approach to both writing novels and criticizing them. When defining her description of the role of the modernist novelist in the essay " Modern Fiction ", Virginia Woolf argues for a representation of life not interested in the exhaustive specific details represented in realism in favor of representing a "myriad of impressions" created in experience life. Her definition made in this essay, and developed in others, helped define

408-662: A Panda-Leopard , at the age of 15, which brought him considerable critical attention. Similarly, Barbara Newhall Follett 's The House Without Windows , was accepted and published in 1927 when she was 13 by the Knopf publishing house and earned critical acclaim from the New York Times , the Saturday Review , and H. L. Mencken . Occasionally, these works will achieve popular success as well. For example, though Christopher Paolini 's Eragon (published at age 15)

510-486: A Scottish identity that the upper-class British society could embrace. In American fiction, the concept of American literary regionalism ensures that many genres of novel associated with particular regions often define the reception of the novelists. For example, in writing Western novels , Zane Grey has been described as a "place-defining novelist", credited for defining the western frontier in America consciousness at

612-529: A Trollope novel; the former British prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major ; the first Canadian prime minister, John A. Macdonald ; the economist John Kenneth Galbraith ; the merchant banker Siegmund Warburg , who said that "reading Anthony Trollope surpassed a university education"; the English judge Lord Denning ; the American novelists Sue Grafton , Dominick Dunne , and Timothy Hallinan ;

714-664: A bazaar in Cincinnati , which proved unsuccessful. Thomas Trollope joined them for a short time before returning to the farm at Harrow, but Anthony stayed in England throughout. His mother returned in 1831 and rapidly made a name for herself as a writer, soon earning a good income. His father's affairs, however, went from bad to worse. He gave up his legal practice entirely and failed to make enough income from farming to pay rent to his landlord, Lord Northwick . In 1834, he fled to Belgium to avoid arrest for debt. The whole family moved to

816-696: A campaign. Beverley had a long history of vote-buying and of intimidation by employers and others. Every election since 1857 had been followed by an election petition alleging corruption, and it was estimated that 300 of the 1,100 voters in 1868 would sell their votes. The task of a Liberal candidate was not to win the election, but to give the Conservative candidates an opportunity to display overt corruption, which could then be used to disqualify them. Trollope described his period of campaigning in Beverley as "the most wretched fortnight of my manhood". He spent

918-503: A century after the novel form first solidified at the beginning of the 19th century. Often such British regional literature captures the social and local character of a particular region in Britain, focussing on specific features, such as dialect, customs, history, and landscape (also called local colour ): "Such a locale is likely to be rural and/or provincial." Thomas Hardy 's (1840–1928) novels can be described as regional because of

1020-555: A civil servant, however, he was ineligible for such a position. His resignation from the Post Office removed this disability, and he almost immediately began seeking a seat for which he might stand. In 1868, he agreed to stand as a Liberal candidate in the borough of Beverley , in the East Riding of Yorkshire . Party leaders apparently took advantage of Trollope's eagerness to stand, and of his willingness to spend money on

1122-677: A daily writing quota, and admitted that he wrote for money, he confirmed his critics' worst fears. Writers were expected to wait for inspiration, not to follow a schedule. Julian Hawthorne , an American writer, critic and friend of Trollope, while praising him as a man, calling him "a credit to England and to human nature, and ... [deserving] to be numbered among the darlings of mankind", also said that "he has done great harm to English fictitious literature by his novels". Henry James also expressed mixed opinions of Trollope. The young James wrote some scathing reviews of Trollope's novels ( The Belton Estate , for instance, he called "a stupid book, without

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1224-533: A day-boy to reduce his education costs. With no money or friends at these two high-ranked elite public schools , Trollope was bullied a great deal, enduring miserable experiences. At the age of 12, he fantasised about suicide. He also sought refuge in daydreams, constructing elaborate imaginary worlds. In 1827, his mother, Frances Trollope , moved to America, to the Nashoba Commune , along with Trollope's three younger siblings. After that failed, she opened

1326-555: A distance) to note the order of their Coaches and Carriages..As if (presented to a Novelist) it had bin the spoyles of a Tryumph leading Captive, or a preparation to some sad Execution" According to the Google Ngrams, the term novelist first appears in the Google Books database in 1521. The difference between professional and amateur novelists often is the author's ability to publish. Many people take up novel writing as

1428-450: A distinction between novelists who report reality by "taking life as it already exists, not to report it, but to make an object, toward the end that the finished work might contain this life inside it, and offer it to the reader" and journalists, whose role is to act as "crusaders" advocating for particular positions, and using their craft as a political tool. Similarly, writing in the 1950s, Ralph Ellison in his essay "Society, Morality, and

1530-513: A fee paid by the writer. In these settings, unlike the more traditional publishing industry, activities usually reserved for a publishing house, like the distribution and promotion of the book, become the author's responsibility. The rise of the Internet and electronic books has made self publishing far less expensive and a realistic way for authors to realize income. Novelists apply a number of different methods to writing their novels, relying on

1632-470: A group of writers known as the " Angry young men ," which included the novelists Alan Sillitoe and Kingsley Amis , who came from the working class and who wrote about working class culture . Some novelists deliberately write for a working class audience for political ends, profiling "the working classes and working-class life; perhaps with the intention of making propaganda". Such literature, sometimes called proletarian literature , maybe associated with

1734-663: A harshly anti-American travel book about the U.S. (titled the Domestic Manners of the Americans ) and feeling markedly more sympathetic to the United States, Trollope resolved to write a work which would "add to the good feeling which should exist between two nations which ought to love each other." During his time in America, Trollope remained a steadfast supporter of the Union , being a committed abolitionist who

1836-460: A hobby, but the difficulties of completing large scale fictional works of quality prevent the completion of novels. Once authors have completed a novel, they often will try to publish it. The publishing industry requires novels to have accessible profitable markets, thus many novelists will self-publish to circumvent the editorial control of publishers. Self-publishing has long been an option for writers, with vanity presses printing bound books for

1938-493: A house near Bruges , where they lived entirely on Frances's earnings. In Belgium, Anthony was offered a commission in an Austrian cavalry regiment. To accept it, he needed to learn French and German; he had a year in which to do so. To acquire these languages without expense to himself and his family, he became an usher (assistant master) in a school in Brussels, making him the tutor of 30 boys. After six weeks there, however, he

2040-434: A measure of prosperity. He took up fox hunting , which he would pursue enthusiastically for the next three decades. As a post-office surveyor, he interacted with local Irish people, whose company he found pleasant: "The Irish people did not murder me, nor did they even break my head. I soon found them to be good-humoured, clever—the working classes very much more intelligent than those of England—economical and hospitable." At

2142-523: A novel dealing with English clerical life as had Barchester Towers . Trollope then devised the plot of Framley Parsonage , setting it near Barchester so that he could make use of characters from the Barsetshire novels. Framley Parsonage proved enormously popular, establishing Trollope's reputation with the novel-reading public and amply justifying the high price that Smith had paid for it. The early connection to Cornhill also brought Trollope into

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2244-407: A novelist works and the reception of their novels by both the public and publishers can be influenced by their demographics or identity. Similarly, some novelists have creative identities derived from their focus on different genres of fiction , such as crime , romance or historical novels . While many novelists compose fiction to satisfy personal desires, novelists and commentators often ascribe

2346-629: A particular character based on the national identity of the authors. In some literature, national identity shapes the self-definition of many novelists. For example, in American literature , many novelists set out to create the " Great American Novel ", or a novel that defines the American experience in their time. Other novelists engage politically or socially with the identity of other members of their nationality, and thus help define that national identity. For instance, critic Nicola Minott-Ahl describes Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris directly helping in

2448-414: A particular social responsibility or role to novel writers. Many authors use such moral imperatives to justify different approaches to novel writing, including activism or different approaches to representing reality "truthfully." Novelist is a term derivative from the term "novel" describing the "writer of novels." The Oxford English Dictionary recognizes other definitions of novelist, first appearing in

2550-692: A position in the Post Office as Surveyor to the Eastern District, comprising Essex , Suffolk, Norfolk , Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire , and most of Hertfordshire . Later in that year he moved to Waltham Cross , about 12 miles (19 km) from London in Hertfordshire, where he lived until 1871. In late 1859, Trollope learned of preparations for the release of the Cornhill Magazine , to be published by George Murray Smith and edited by William Makepeace Thackeray . He wrote to

2652-447: A project as Middlemarch without the precedent set by Trollope in his own novels of the fictional—yet thoroughly alive—county of Barsetshire. Other contemporaries of Trollope praised his understanding of the quotidian world of institutions, official life, and daily business; he is one of the few novelists who find the office a creative environment. W. H. Auden wrote of Trollope: "Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands

2754-489: A secondary hobby. Few novelists become literary celebrities or become very wealthy from the sale of their novels alone. Often those authors who are wealthy and successful will produce extremely popular genre fiction. Examples include authors like James Patterson , who was the highest paid author in 2010, making 70 million dollars, topping both other novelists and authors of non-fiction. Other famous literary millionaires include popular successes like J. K. Rowling , author of

2856-420: A single thought or idea in it ... a sort of mental pabulum"). He also made it clear that he disliked Trollope's narrative method; Trollope's cheerful interpolations into his novels about how his storylines could take any twist their author wanted did not appeal to James's sense of artistic integrity. However, James thoroughly appreciated Trollope's attention to realistic detail, as he wrote in an essay shortly after

2958-490: A small monetary advance before publication of their debut novel; in the rare exceptions when a large print run and high volume of sales are anticipated, the advance can be larger. However, once an author has established themselves in print, some authors can make steady income as long as they remain productive as writers. Additionally, many novelists, even published ones, will take on outside work, such as teaching creative writing in academic institutions , or leave novel writing as

3060-457: A strong focus by novelists from there on the significance of family, religion, community, the use of the Southern dialect , along with a strong sense of place. The South 's troubled history with racial issues has also continually concerned its novelists. In Latin America a literary movement called Criollismo or costumbrismo was active from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of

3162-558: A tailor fell into the hands of a moneylender and grew to more than £200; the lender regularly visited Trollope at his workplace to demand payments. Trollope hated his job, but saw no alternative and lived in constant fear of dismissal. In 1841, an opportunity to escape arose. A postal surveyor clerk in central Ireland, reported as incompetent, needed replacement. The position was not regarded as desirable, but Trollope, in debt and in trouble at work, volunteered for it; and his supervisor, William Maberly , eager to be rid of him, appointed him to

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3264-480: A total of over 2.8 billion words. Novelists do not usually publish their first novels until later in life. However, many novelists begin writing at a young age. For example, Iain Banks began writing at eleven, and at sixteen completed his first novel, "The Hungarian Lift-Jet", about international arms dealers, "in pencil in a larger-than-foolscap log book". However, he was thirty before he published his first novel,

3366-500: A total of £400 on his campaign. The election was held on 17 November 1868 ; the novelist finished last of four candidates, with the victory going to the two Conservatives. A petition was filed , and a Royal Commission investigated the circumstances of the election; its findings of extensive and widespread corruption drew nationwide attention, and led to the disfranchisement of the borough in 1870. The fictional Percycross election in Ralph

3468-440: A variety of approaches to inspire creativity. Some communities actively encourage amateurs to practice writing novels to develop these unique practices, that vary from author to author. For example, the internet-based group, National Novel Writing Month , encourages people to write 50,000-word novels in the month of November, to give novelists practice completing such works. In the 2010 event, over 200,000 people took part – writing

3570-416: A variety of backgrounds and social classes, and frequently this shapes the content of their works. Public reception of a novelist's work , the literary criticism commenting on it, and the novelists' incorporation of their own experiences into works and characters can lead to the author's personal life and identity being associated with a novel's fictional content. For this reason, the environment within which

3672-632: A wide acquaintance, which included Lowell , Holmes , Emerson , Agassiz , Hawthorne , Longfellow , Bret Harte , Artemus Ward , Joaquin Miller , Mark Twain , Henry James , William Dean Howells , James T. Fields , Charles Norton , John Lothrop Motley , and Richard Henry Dana Jr. " Trollope wrote a travel book focusing on his experiences in the US during the American Civil War titled North America (1862). Aware that his mother had published

3774-526: A writer, especially since Ireland was experiencing the Great Famine during his time there. However, these critics (who have been accused of bigoted opinions against Ireland) failed or refused to acknowledge both Trollope's true attachment to the country and the country's capacity as a rich literary field. Trollope published four novels about Ireland. Two were written during the Great Famine, while

3876-516: A year and two days "descending mines, mixing with shearers and rouseabouts, riding his horse into the loneliness of the bush, touring lunatic asylums, and exploring coast and plain by steamer and stagecoach". He visited the penal colony of Port Arthur and its cemetery, Isle of the Dead . Despite this, the Australian press was uneasy, fearing he would misrepresent Australia in his writings. This fear

3978-508: Is based on, and nearly geographically identical to, Lafayette County, of which his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi . In addition to the geographical component of Southern literature, certain themes have appeared because of the similar histories of the Southern states in regard to slavery , the American Civil War , and Reconstruction . The conservative culture in the South has also produced

4080-409: Is not a question of the subject matter or political stance of a particular author, but of her gender : her position as a woman within the literary marketplace. However, the publishing market's orientation to favor the primary reading audience of women may increasingly skew the market towards female novelists; for this reason, novelist Teddy Wayne argued in a 2012 Salon article titled "The agony of

4182-585: Is particularly associated with the rural English Midlands, whereas Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) is the novelist of the Potteries in Staffordshire , or the "Five Towns", (actually six) that now make-up Stoke-on-Trent . Similarly, novelist and poet Walter Scott 's (1771–1832) contribution in creating a unified identity for Scotland and were some of the most popular in all of Europe during the subsequent century. Scott's novels were influential in recreating

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4284-526: The Chronicles of Barsetshire ), dealing primarily with the clergy and landed gentry. Barchester Towers (1857) has probably become the best-known of these. Trollope's other major series, the Palliser novels , which overlap with the Barsetshire novels, concerned itself with politics, with the wealthy, industrious Plantagenet Palliser (later Duke of Omnium) and his delightfully spontaneous, even richer wife Lady Glencora featured prominently. However, as with

4386-629: The Harry Potter series, Dan Brown author of The Da Vinci Code , historical novelist Bernard Cornwell , and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer . "[the novelist's] honesty is bound to the vile stake of his megalomania [...] The novelist is the sole master of his work. He is his work." Milan Kundera The personal experiences of the novelist will often shape what they write and how readers and critics will interpret their novels. Literary reception has long relied on practices of reading literature through biographical criticism , in which

4488-644: The "roughness ... Spartan simplicity and the dirtiness of the Boer's way of life [merely] resulted from his preference for living in rural isolation, far from any town." In the completed work, which Trollope simply titled South Africa (1877), he described the mining town of Kimberly as being "one of the most interesting places on the face of the earth." In 1880, Trollope moved to the village of South Harting in West Sussex. He spent some time in Ireland in

4590-451: The 16th and 17th centuries to refer to either "An innovator (in thought or belief); someone who introduces something new or who favours novelty" or "An inexperienced person; a novice." However, the OED attributes the primary contemporary meaning of "a writer of novels" as first appearing in the 1633 book "East-India Colation" by C. Farewell citing the passage "It beeing a pleasant observation (at

4692-520: The 1940s, Trollopians made further attempts to resurrect his reputation; he enjoyed a critical renaissance in the 1960s, and again in the 1990s. Some critics today have a particular interest in Trollope's portrayal of women—he caused remark even in his own day for his deep insight and sensitivity to the inner conflicts caused by the position of women in Victorian society. In the early 1990s, interest in Trollope increased. A Trollope Society flourishes in

4794-766: The 20th century, which is considered equivalent to American literary regionalism. It used a realist style to portray the scenes, language, customs and manners of the country the writer was from, especially the lower and peasant classes, criollismo led to an original literature based on the continent's natural elements, mostly epic and foundational. It was strongly influenced by the wars of independence from Spain and also denotes how each country in its own way defines criollo , which in Latin America refers to locally-born people of Spanish ancestry. Novelists often will be assessed in contemporary criticism based on their gender or treatment of gender. Largely, this has to do with

4896-474: The Author " that the author no longer should dictate the reception and meaning derived from their work. Other, theoretical approaches to literary criticism attempt to explore the author's unintentional influence over their work; methods like psychoanalytic theory or cultural studies , presume that the work produced by a novelist represents fundamental parts of the author's identity . Milan Kundera describes

4998-495: The Barsetshire series, many other well-developed characters populated each novel and in one, The Eustace Diamonds , the Pallisers play only a small role. Trollope's popularity and critical success diminished in his later years, but he continued to write prolifically, and some of his later novels have acquired a good reputation. In particular, critics, who concur that the book was not popular when published, generally acknowledge

5100-669: The Heir and the Tankerville election in Phineas Redux are closely based on the Beverley campaign. After the defeat at Beverley, Trollope concentrated entirely on his literary career. While continuing to produce novels rapidly, he also edited the St Paul's Magazine , which published several of his novels in serial form. "Between 1859 and 1875, Trollope visited the United States five times. Among American literary men he developed

5202-458: The Irish for their actions during the famine, were representative of the dismissal by English readers of any work written about the Irish. In 1851, Trollope was sent to England, charged with investigating and reorganising rural mail delivery in south-western England and south Wales . The two-year mission took him over much of Great Britain, often on horseback. Trollope describes this time as "two of

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5304-535: The London circle of artists, writers, and intellectuals, not least among whom were Smith and Thackeray. By the mid-1860s, Trollope had reached a fairly senior position within the Post Office hierarchy, despite ongoing differences with Rowland Hill , who was at that time Chief Secretary to the Postmaster General . Postal history credits Trollope with introducing the pillar box (the ubiquitous mail-box) in

5406-684: The Novel", sees the novelist as needing to "re-create reality in the forms which his personal vision assumes as it plays and struggles with the vivid illusory "eidetic-like" imagery left in the mind's eye by the process of social change." However, Ellison also describes novelists of the Lost Generation , like Ernest Hemingway , not taking full advantage of the moral weight and influence available to novelists, pointing to Mark Twain and Herman Melville as better examples. A number of such essays, such as literary critic Frank Norris 's "Responsibilities of

5508-706: The Post Office was the novelist Anthony Trollope , who later parodied Maberly as Sir Boreas Bodkin in the novel Marion Fay . On stepping down from the Post Office in 1854 he was appointed a Commissioner of Audit , remaining in post until 1867. In 1865, the Canadian Post Office Department Secretary William Dawson LeSueur named the settlement of Maberly , Ontario in Maberly's honour. He married Irish novelist Catherine C. Prittie (1805–75) in 1830. Their only child, William Anson Robert Maberly, died at

5610-670: The United Kingdom, as does its sister society in the United States. In 2011, the University of Kansas 's Department of English, in collaboration with the Hall Center for the Humanities and in partnership with The Fortnightly Review , began awarding an annual Trollope Prize. The Prize was established to focus attention on Trollope's work and career. Notable fans have included Alec Guinness , who never travelled without

5712-473: The United Kingdom. He was earning a substantial income from his novels. He had overcome the awkwardness of his youth, made good friends in literary circles, and hunted enthusiastically. In 1865, Trollope was among the founders of the liberal Fortnightly Review . When Hill left the Post Office in 1864, Trollope's brother-in-law, John Tilley , who was then Under-Secretary to the Postmaster General,

5814-516: The alien and external as possible?" William Maberly William Leader Maberly (1798–1885) spent most of his life as a British army officer and Whig politician. He was the eldest child of John Maberly (1777–1845), a currier, clothing manufacturer, banker and MP, who had made and lost a fortune in a lifetime. He became a member of parliament, initially for Westbury (1819–20), then Northampton (1820–30), then Shaftesbury (1831–32), and finally for Chatham (1832–34). In 1831 he

5916-404: The author's life is presumed to have influence on the topical and thematic concerns of works. Some veins of criticism use this information about the novelist to derive an understanding of the novelist's intentions within his work. However, postmodern literary critics often denounce such an approach; the most notable of these critiques comes from Roland Barthes who argues in his essay " Death of

6018-569: The beginning of the 20th century while becoming linked as an individual to his depiction of that space. Similarly, novelist such as Mark Twain , William Faulkner , Eudora Welty , and Flannery O'Connor are often describe as writing within a particular tradition of Southern literature , in which subject matter relevant to the South is associated with their own identities as authors. For example, William Faulkner set many of his short stories and novels in Yoknapatawpha County , which

6120-497: The capital needed to market books by an unknown author to the public. Responding to the difficulty of successfully writing and publishing first novels, especially at a young age, there are a number of awards for young and first time novelists to highlight exceptional works from new and/or young authors (for examples see Category:Literary awards honouring young writers and Category:First book awards ). In contemporary British and American publishing markets, most authors receive only

6222-584: The controversy also note that by removing such categories as "Women novelist" or "Lesbian writer" from the description of gendered or sexual minorities, the discover-ability of those authors plummet for other people who share that identity. Similarly, because of the conversations brought by feminism, examinations of masculine subjects and an author's performance of "maleness" are a new and increasingly prominent approach critical studies of novels. For example, some academics studying Victorian fiction spend considerable time examining how masculinity shapes and effects

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6324-476: The creation of French political and social identity in mid-nineteenth century France. Some novelists become intimately linked with a particular place or geographic region and therefore receive a place-based identity . In his discussion of the history of the association of particular novelists with place in British literature , critic D. C. D. Pocock, described the sense of place not developing in that canon until

6426-560: The disparity between the privileged background of his parents and their comparatively meagre means. Born in London, Anthony attended the Harrow School as a day pupil for three years, beginning at age seven, without paying fees because his father's farm, acquired for that purpose, lay in the neighbourhood. After a spell at a private school at Sunbury , he followed his father and two older brothers to Winchester College , where he remained for three years. He then returned to Harrow as

6528-654: The early 1880s researching his last, unfinished, novel, The Landleaguers . It is said that he was extremely distressed by the violence of the Land War . Trollope died in Marylebone , London, in 1882 and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery , near the grave of his contemporary, Wilkie Collins . Trollope's first major success came with The Warden (1855)—the first of six novels set in the fictional county of "Barsetshire" (often collectively referred to as

6630-687: The educated middle classes. However, working men and women began publishing novels in the twentieth century. This includes in Britain Walter Greenwood 's Love on the Dole (1933), from America B. Traven 's, The Death Ship (1926) and Agnes Smedley , Daughter of Earth (1929) and from the Soviet Union Nikolay Ostrovsky 's How the Steel Was Tempered (1932). Later, in 1950s Britain, came

6732-468: The exception rather than the norm. Other critics and writers defending the merits of genre fiction often point towards King as an example of bridging the gap between popular genres and literary merit. Both literary critics and novelists question what role novelists play in society and within art. For example, Eudora Welty writing in 1965 for in her essay "Must the Novelist Crusade?" draws

6834-549: The genre or within their own interests. In describing the place within the industry, novelist Kim Wright says that many authors, especially authors who usually write literary fiction, worry about "the danger that genre is a cul-de-sac" where publishers will only publish similar genre fiction from that author because of reader expectations, "and that once a writer turns into it, he'll never get out." Similarly, very few authors start in genre fiction and move to more "literary" publications; Wright describes novelists like Stephen King as

6936-453: The happiest years of my life". In the course of it, he visited Salisbury Cathedral ; and there, according to his autobiography, he conceived the plot of The Warden , which became the first of the six Barsetshire novels . His postal work delayed the beginning of writing for a year; the novel was published in 1855, in an edition of 1,000 copies, with Trollope receiving half of the profits: £9 8s. 8d. in 1855, and £10 15s. 1d. in 1856. Although

7038-752: The highly controversial The Wasp Factory in 1984. The success of this novel enabled Banks to become a full-time novelist. Often an important writers' juvenilia , even if not published, is prized by scholars because it provides insight into an author's biography and approach to writing; for example, the Brontë family 's juvenilia that depicts their imaginary world of Gondal , currently in the British Library , has provided important information on their development as writers. Occasionally, novelists publish as early as their teens. For example, Patrick O'Brian published his first novel, Caesar: The Life Story of

7140-516: The impacts of cultural expectations of gender on the literary market, readership and authorship. Literary criticism , especially since the rise of feminist theory , pays attention to how women, historically, have experienced a very different set of writing expectations based on their gender; for example, the editors of The Feminist Companion to Literature in English point out: "Their texts emerge from and intervene in conditions usually very different from those which produced most writing by men." It

7242-582: The last years of his life, but he regained somewhat of a following by the mid-20th century. Anthony Trollope was the son of barrister Thomas Anthony Trollope and the novelist and travel writer Frances Milton Trollope . Though a clever and well-educated man and a Fellow of New College, Oxford , Thomas Trollope failed at the Bar due to his bad temper. Ventures into farming proved unprofitable, and his expectations of inheritance were dashed when an elderly, childless uncle remarried and fathered children. Thomas Trollope

7344-702: The late 1870s, Trollope furthered his travel writing career by visiting southern Africa , including the Cape Colony and the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal . Admitting that he initially assumed that the Afrikaners had "retrograded from civilization, and had become savage, barbarous, and unkindly", Trollope wrote at length on Boer cultural habits, claiming that

7446-406: The latter, offering to provide short stories for the new magazine. Thackeray and Smith both responded: the former urging Trollope to contribute, the latter offering £1,000 for a novel, provided that a substantial part of it could be available to the printer within six weeks. Trollope offered Smith Castle Richmond , which he was then writing; but Smith declined to accept an Irish story, and suggested

7548-443: The literary movement of modernist literature . She argues that the novelist should represent "not a series of gig-lamps symmetrically arranged; [rather] life is luminous halo, a semitransparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of the conscious to the end. Is it not the task of the novelist to convey this varying, this unknown and uncircumscribed spirit, whatever aberration or complexity it may display, with as little mixture of

7650-413: The male novelist" that midlist male novelists are less likely to find success than midlist female novelist, even though men tend to dominate "literary fiction" spaces. The position of women in the literary marketplace can change public conversation about novelists and their place within popular culture, leading to debates over sexism. For example, in 2013, American female novelist Amanda Filipacchi wrote

7752-455: The most eloquent, of the writers who have helped the heart of man to know itself. ... A race is fortunate when it has a good deal of the sort of imagination—of imaginative feeling—that had fallen to the share of Anthony Trollope; and in this possession our English race is not poor. Writers such as William Thackeray , George Eliot and Wilkie Collins admired and befriended Trollope, and Eliot noted that she could not have embarked on so ambitious

7854-408: The novelist's death: His [Trollope's] great, his inestimable merit was a complete appreciation of the usual. ... [H]e felt all daily and immediate things as well as saw them; felt them in a simple, direct, salubrious way, with their sadness, their gladness, their charm, their comicality, all their obvious and measurable meanings. ... Trollope will remain one of the most trustworthy, though not one of

7956-492: The numerous long train trips around Ireland he had to take to carry out his postal duties. Setting firm goals about how much he would write each day, he eventually became one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote his earliest novels while working as a Post Office inspector, occasionally dipping into the " lost-letter " box for ideas. Significantly, many of his earliest novels have Ireland as their setting—natural enough given that he wrote them or thought them up while he

8058-660: The poet Edward Fitzgerald ; the artist Edward Gorey , who kept a complete set of his books; the American author Robert Caro ; the playwright David Mamet ; the soap opera writer Harding Lemay ; the screenwriter and novelist Julian Fellowes ; liberal political philosopher Anthony de Jasay and theologian Stanley Hauerwas . Literary allusions in Trollope's novels have been identified and traced by Professor James A. Means, in two articles that appeared in The Victorian Newsletter (vols. 78 and 82) in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Novelist Novelists come from

8160-718: The political agendas of the Communist party or left wing sympathizers, and seen as a "device of revolution". However, the British tradition of working class literature, unlike the Russian and American, was not especially inspired by the Communist Party, but had its roots in the Chartist movement , and socialism , amongst others. Novelists are often classified by their national affiliation, suggesting that novels take on

8262-580: The position. Trollope's new work consisted largely of inspection tours in Connaught , and he based himself in Banagher , King's County. Although he had arrived with a bad reference from London, his new supervisor resolved to judge him on his merits, and within a year, by Trollope's account, he earned a reputation as a valuable public servant. His salary and travel allowance went much further in Ireland than they had in London, and he found himself enjoying

8364-558: The profits were not large, the book received notices in the press, and brought Trollope to the attention of the novel-reading public. He immediately began work on Barchester Towers , the second Barsetshire novel; upon its publication in 1857, he received an advance payment of £100 (about £12,000 in 2023 consumer pounds) against his share of the profits. Like The Warden , Barchester Towers did not obtain large sales, but it helped to establish Trollope's reputation. In his autobiography, Trollope writes, "It achieved no great reputation, but it

8466-430: The role of money. Compared with him, even Balzac is too romantic." As trends in the world of the novel moved increasingly towards subjectivity and artistic experimentation, Trollope's standing with critics suffered. But Lord David Cecil noted in 1934 that "Trollope is still very much alive ... and among fastidious readers." He noted that Trollope was "conspicuously free from the most characteristic Victorian faults". In

8568-399: The sole master of his work. He is his work." The close intimacy of identity with the novelist's work ensures that particular elements, whether for class, gender, sexuality, nationality, race, or place-based identity, will influence the reception of their work. Historically, because of the amount of leisure time and education required to write novels, most novelists have come from the upper or

8670-570: The sweeping satire The Way We Live Now (1875) as his masterpiece. In all, Trollope wrote 47 novels, 42 short stories, and five travel books, as well as nonfiction books titled Thackeray (1879) and Lord Palmerston (1882). After his death, Trollope's An Autobiography appeared and was a bestseller in London. Trollope's downfall in the eyes of the critics stemmed largely from this volume. Even during his writing career, reviewers tended increasingly to shake their heads over his prodigious output, but when Trollope revealed that he strictly adhered to

8772-462: The tensions between the novelist's own identity and the work that the author produces in his essay in The New Yorker titled "What is a novelist?"; he says that the novelist's "honesty is bound to the vile stake of his megalomania [...]The work is not simply everything a novelist writes-notebooks, diaries, articles. It is the end result of long labor on an aesthetic project[...]The novelist is

8874-714: The third deals with the famine as a theme ( The Macdermots of Ballycloran , The Kellys and the O'Kellys , and Castle Richmond , respectively). The Macdermots of Ballycloran was written while he was staying in the village of Drumsna , County Leitrim . The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848) is a humorous comparison of the romantic pursuits of the landed gentry (Francis O'Kelly, Lord Ballindine) and his Catholic tenant (Martin Kelly). Two short stories deal with Ireland ("The O'Conors of Castle Conor, County Mayo" and "Father Giles of Ballymoy"). Some critics argue that these works seek to unify an Irish and British identity, instead of viewing

8976-586: The towns of Bendigo and Ballarat , and the Aboriginal population . What most angered the Australian papers, though, were his comments "accusing Australians of being braggarts". Trollope returned to Australia in 1875 to help his son close down his failed farming business. He found that the resentment created by his accusations of bragging remained. Even when he died in 1882, Australian papers still "smouldered", referring yet again to these accusations, and refusing to fully praise or recognize his achievements. In

9078-470: The two as distinct. Even as an Englishman in Ireland, Trollope was still able to attain what he saw as essential to being an "Irish writer": possessed, obsessed, and "mauled" by Ireland. The reception of the Irish works left much to be desired. Henry Colburn wrote to Trollope, "It is evident that readers do not like novels on Irish subjects as well as on others." In particular, magazines such as The New Monthly Magazine , which included reviews that attacked

9180-443: The watering place of Dún Laoghaire , Trollope met Rose Heseltine (1821–1917), the daughter of a Rotherham bank manager. They became engaged when he had been in Ireland for just a year, but Trollope's debts and her lack of a fortune prevented them from marrying until 1844. Soon after they wed, Trollope was transferred to another postal district in the south of Ireland, and the family moved to Clonmel . Their first son, Henry Merivale,

9282-504: The way he makes use of these elements in relation to a part of the West of England, that he names Wessex . Other British writers that have been characterized as regional novelists, are the Brontë sisters , and writers like Mary Webb (1881–1927), Margiad Evans (1909–58) and Geraint Goodwin (1903–42), who are associate with the Welsh border region. George Eliot (1801–86) on the other hand

9384-960: The works, because of its prominence within fiction from the Victorian period. Traditionally, the publishing industry has distinguished between " literary fiction ", works lauded as achieving greater literary merit , and " genre fiction ", novels written within the expectations of genres and published as consumer products. Thus, many novelists become slotted as writers of one or the other. Novelist Kim Wright , however, notes that both publishers and traditional literary novelist are turning towards genre fiction because of their potential for financial success and their increasingly positive reception amongst critics. Wright gives examples of authors like Justin Cronin , Tom Perrotta and Colson Whitehead all making that transition. However, publishing genre novels does not always allow novelist to continue writing outside

9486-639: Was Surveyor-General of the Ordnance and in 1832 Clerk of the Ordnance ; then, in 1834, he became a Commissioner of HM Customs . In 1836, he was appointed as joint secretary to the General Post Office , where he strongly opposed the introduction of the Penny Post , a plan championed by Rowland Hill to charge a fixed price for postage (as is now the normal practice in most of the world). One of Maberly's principal secretaries during his time at

9588-471: Was appointed to the vacant position. Trollope applied for Tilley's old post, but was passed over in favour of a subordinate, Frank Ives Scudamore . In the autumn of 1867, Trollope resigned his position at the Post Office, having by that time saved enough to generate an income equal to the pension he would lose by leaving before the age of 60. Trollope had long dreamt of taking a seat in the House of Commons . As

9690-419: Was based on rather negative writings about America by his mother, Fanny, and by Charles Dickens . On his return, Trollope published a book, Australia and New Zealand (1873). It contained both positive and negative comments. On the positive side, it found a comparative absence of class consciousness, and praised aspects of Perth , Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney . However, he was negative about Adelaide's river,

9792-415: Was born in 1846, and their second, Frederick James Anthony, in 1847. Though Trollope had decided to become a novelist, he had accomplished very little writing during his first three years in Ireland. At the time of his marriage, he had only written the first of three volumes of his first novel, The Macdermots of Ballycloran . Within a year of his marriage, he finished that work. Trollope began writing on

9894-399: Was living and working in Ireland, but unlikely to enjoy warm critical reception, given the contemporary English attitude towards Ireland. Critics have pointed out that Trollope's view of Ireland separates him from many of the other Victorian novelists. Other critics claimed that Ireland did not influence Trollope as much as his experience in England, and that the society in Ireland harmed him as

9996-640: Was not a great critical success, its popularity among readers placed it on the New York Times Children's Books Best Seller list for 121 weeks. First-time novelists of any age often are unable to have their works published, because of a number of reasons reflecting the inexperience of the author and the economic realities of publishers. Often authors must find advocates in the publishing industry, usually literary agents , to successfully publish their debut novels . Sometimes new novelists will self-publish , because publishing houses will not risk

10098-432: Was offered a clerkship in the General Post Office , obtained through a family friend. Accepting this post, he returned to London in the autumn of 1834. Thomas Trollope died the following year. According to Trollope, "the first seven years of my official life were neither creditable to myself nor useful to the public service." At the Post Office, he acquired a reputation for unpunctuality and insubordination. A debt of £12 to

10200-399: Was one of the novels which novel readers were called upon to read." For the following novel, The Three Clerks , he was able to sell the copyright for a lump sum of £250; he preferred this to waiting for a share of future profits. Although Trollope had been happy and comfortable in Ireland, he felt that as an author, he should live within easy reach of London. In 1859, he sought and obtained

10302-585: Was opposed to the system of slavery as it existed in the South . In 1871, Trollope made his first trip to Australia , arriving in Melbourne on 28 July 1871 on the SS Great Britain , with his wife and their cook. The trip was made to visit their younger son, Frederick, who was a sheep farmer near Grenfell, New South Wales . He wrote his novel Lady Anna during the voyage. In Australia, he spent

10404-414: Was the son of Rev. (Thomas) Anthony Trollope, rector of Cottered , Hertfordshire, himself the sixth son of Sir Thomas Trollope, 4th Baronet . The baronetcy later came to descendants of Anthony Trollope's second son, Frederic. As a son of landed gentry , Thomas Trollope wanted his sons raised as gentlemen who would attend Oxford or Cambridge . Anthony Trollope suffered much misery in his boyhood, owing to

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