Anthony Trollope's Late Style: Victorian Liberalism and Literary Form

(Paperback)

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This study focuses on Anthony Trollope's stylistic innovations in relation to Victorian liberalism
In his biography of William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope posits the ideal of a man without style: 'I hold that gentleman to be the best dressed whose dress no one observes. I am not sure but that the same may be said of an author's written language'. Trollope's own appearance, unlike his written language, did not pass without observation, however. A contemporary poet recollects that he was 'hirsute and taurine of aspect'. This study unravels this paradox. It disentangles the many threads in Trollope's ostensibly transparent writing and reassembles the political and intellectual fabric that they weave, thus showing how Trollope's language exceeds and questions the concepts provided by contemporary ideologies.
Key Features:
Shows how Trollope's stylistic peculiarities perform his inflection of Victorian liberalism
Reads Victorian literature through the lens of German (post-)Romantic thinkers such as Goethe and Walter Benjamin
Presents a panorama of Victorian liberalism in its literary, intellectual, and political context
Examines the writings from the last decade of Trollope's life that have received only scant critical attention, such as his novellas and his biographies

Reviews

Frederik Van Dams Anthony Trollopes Late Style establishes its author as a brilliant leading expert globally on Anthony Trollope. It is far more than just an analysis of Trollopes late style and presents wonderfully detailed readings of Trollopes late works (1875 and onwards). Itis a superb book in every way. -- UCI Distinguished Research Professor, University of California at Irvine * J. Hillis Miller *
Van Dams study is diverse and eclectic in its compass of the elements of style. -- Deborah Denenholz Morse * Review 19 *
Van Dams book is remarkably inclusive, quoting liberally from Trollopes works and a wide range of critics and often containing lengthy footnotes that function as miniature scholarly essays. In this way, Van Dams own style...reveals the sociable and egalitarian instincts that he attributes to the later Trollope. -- MATTHEW SUSSMAN,The University of Sydney * Review of English Studies, Vol. 67, No. 282 *
Van Dams book is remarkably inclusive, quoting liberally from Trollopes works and a wide range of critics and often containing lengthy footnotes that function as miniature scholarly essays. In this way, Van Dams own style...reveals the sociable and egalitarian instincts that he attributes to the later Trollope. -- MATTHEW SUSSMAN,The University of Sydney * Review of English Studies, Vol. 67, No. 282 *

Author Bio

Frederik Van Dam is Assistant Professor of European Literature at Radboud University Nijmegen. He is the author of Anthony Trollopes Late Style: Victorian Liberalism and Literary Form (EUP, 2016) and has recently edited a special issue on literature and economics in the European Journal of English Studies (2017). He is currently working on a literary history of diplomacy from the Congress of Vienna up to the present.