- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (1 Oct 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192833510
- ISBN-13: 978-0192833518
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 348,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Trilby (1894)
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Product Description
Product Description
'You shall see nothing, hear nothing, think of nothing but Svengali, Svengali, Svengali!' First published in 1894, the story of the diva Trilby O'Ferrall and her mesmeric mentor, Svengali, has entered the mythology of the time alongside Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. Immensely popular for a number of years, the novel led to a hit play, a series of popular films, and the trilby hat. The setting of the story reflects the author's bohemian years as an art student in Paris; indeed James McNeill Whistler was to recognize himself in one of the early serialized instalments. George Du Maurier was a celebrated caricaturist for Punch magazine and his drawings for the novel form part of its appeal - this edition includes his most significant illustrations.
About the Author
Elaine Showalter is Professor and Chair of the English Department at Princeton University. Her books include The New Feminist Criticism and Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle.
George Du Maurier was born in Paris into a bilingual household and spent his childhood shuttling between London, Paris, Boulogne, and Belgium. After studying art in Paris, he made a career in London in journalism and magazine illustration. He joined the staff of Punch and quickly became known for his witty lampoons of high society. Encouraged by his friend Henry James, he wrote his first novel, Peter Ibbetson, in 1891. Trilby (1894), his second
novel, became an immense international success, generating a craze - `Trilby-mania' - that went beyond the novel itself. Manufacturers vied to produce Trilby products - from ice-cream to shoes - and a town in Florida named its streets after characters in the book.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
It was a fine, sunny, showery day in April. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was a fine, sunny, showery day in April. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This deservedly famous novel, partly autobiographical, by the father of Daphne du Maurier, is absolutely fascinating. I regret that it has taken me so long to getting round to reading it. The fluidity and intensity of desire we are used to in the 1890s is extremely well represented, from the obsession with Trilby's perfect foot and the ecstatic and yet ironic description of the effect of her voice to the ambiguities of the relationship between the male protagonists, a trio of young British artists on the loose in 1860s in Paris's Latin Quarter. The illustrations by du Maurier are intriguing too. It's the quintessential decadent mass-market novel, well worth reading in front of an open fire, a bottle of wine at your side. Think a novelistic version of the film "Moulin Rouge" written in the 1890s and you'll get the idea.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First serialised in Harper's Monthly Trilby went on to become a bestseller in book form on both sides of the Atlantic. George Du Maurier (grandfather of Daphne Du Maurier) could not be accused of high literature, unlike his friend Henry James. Perhaps this adds something to the story, the same way that Dracula has remained popular.
So much happens or you imagine happens in this book, especially with that most infamous creation Svengali. Indeed like Dorien Gray it is what people imagine Svengali gets up to that leads to the enigma of the character and has made so well known. The basic story is about friendship between three British artists in Paris, love, and their feelings for Trilby. Trilby, the tone deaf friend of everyone who becomes a singing sensation famous throughout Europe, under the tutelage of the mesmeric Svengali.
I was having serious trouble concentrating and couldn't sleep, and not knowing what to do with myself I thought I'd see if I could get into this book, and was soon fully immersed. This book isn't hard to read but be warned, there is a lot of French in it and if you are not conversant in that language you will have to keep looking in the notes at the back of the book. This OUP edition also has the original illustrations by the author which adds something to the reading experience of this book. I will definitely read this book again, and can quite see why it was a bestseller.
So much happens or you imagine happens in this book, especially with that most infamous creation Svengali. Indeed like Dorien Gray it is what people imagine Svengali gets up to that leads to the enigma of the character and has made so well known. The basic story is about friendship between three British artists in Paris, love, and their feelings for Trilby. Trilby, the tone deaf friend of everyone who becomes a singing sensation famous throughout Europe, under the tutelage of the mesmeric Svengali.
I was having serious trouble concentrating and couldn't sleep, and not knowing what to do with myself I thought I'd see if I could get into this book, and was soon fully immersed. This book isn't hard to read but be warned, there is a lot of French in it and if you are not conversant in that language you will have to keep looking in the notes at the back of the book. This OUP edition also has the original illustrations by the author which adds something to the reading experience of this book. I will definitely read this book again, and can quite see why it was a bestseller.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I didn't know that this book existed until I read David Lodge's "Author,Author!" on the life of Henry James. It is very interesting, highly amusing and very sad - all at the same time. I recommend it to any reader.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Evil Svengali and the Innocent Trilby
I tried very hard to read this in installments and to ignore what I knew about the ending, imagining instead that this was simply a story I was following from month to month in a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Alex in Leeds
Look deep into my eyes - and you'll still be bored
What a curious book this is. It was a huge bestseller in the late Victorian period, and I cannot for the life of me think why. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2001
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