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Smiling Shelves

Autobiography of Anthony Trollope

4/23/2015

4 Comments

 
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If you want a book about Trollope's personal life, this isn't really the one. Sure, it gives us the basics of his early life. We learn that he had a passion for hunting. He worked for the Post Office for many years as his day job. But we don't learn much beyond that, especially about his family. In fact, my favorite line was on page 96 - "While we were living at Clonmel two sons had been born, who certainly were important enough to have been mentioned sooner." And yet he doesn't mention them again for nearly 250 more pages!

What Trollope does give us is an intimate look into the writing of his novels and his philosophy of work. He was a very meticulous worker, regularly writing 250 words every 15 minutes until he had two or three thousand a day. Every single day, pretty much without exception. He viewed writing as a job just as any other job you would work at. Why wait for inspiration to strike? Just pick up your pen! He also gives his opinion on every book he has written, sometimes in a brutally honest way. If he didn't think the book was any good, he will say so. But if he did think the work had merit, even if it wasn't popular, he will defend it.

He also shares his opinion of fellow writers of the day, such as Thackeray and Wilkie Collins and George Elliot, many of whom he was friends with. And he speaks to many literary issues that still affect us today, like author and critic interaction.

Anthony Trollope was an insightful man - insightful about his own work and the times in which he lived. If you're looking for a strong opinion or a behind-the-scenes look at his work, then you couldn't do any better than to read The Autobiography of Anthony Trollope.

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Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books
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4 Comments
fiddlrts link
4/23/2015 04:15:39 am

I'm a huge fan of Trollope.

In an interesting twist, however, his Autobiography turned out to be a terrible decision in a way, because his admission that he wrote as if it were a job, rather than the result of unpredictable artistic inspiration led to a decline in his reputation. He just didn't fit with the Victorian ideal of the romantic artist. His reputation really didn't recover for a hundred years or so, which is really too bad.

I'm always glad to find other Trollope fans.

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
4/23/2015 02:00:39 pm

It is a shame that it hurt his reputation, but kind of understandable, too. In the age of Byron, who wants to view writing as an uninspired job? I guess that's a risk you take when you write an honest autobiography.

It's been a while since I've read a Trollope novel, but I am itching to pick one up now!

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Lois link
4/23/2015 04:49:11 am

I have loved the Trollope novels I've read so far so I think it would be interesting to read his autobiography. It sounds interesting and I like that he wasn't afraid to admit that he wrote as a job. :)

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Julie @ Smiling Shelves link
4/23/2015 02:01:44 pm

He definitely wasn't afraid to share his opinions! I'm looking forward to reading one of his novels now that I've seen how he works as a writer. I'm curious if it will change my perception of his writing...

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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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