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

© Frederik Van Dam, 2016. Henry James famously dismissed the works which constitute Anthony Trollope's ultimate compositions for their 'fatal dryness of texture' and 'mechanical movement'. Taking its cue from James's observations while challenging his assessment, this study examines the full stylistic range of the novels and biographies which Trollope explored in his final decade, from allegory, satire, and parody, through poignancy, the classics, and paraphrasis, to character, bathos, and fantasy. Blending literary criticism with intellectual history and Frankfurt School theory, Frederik Van Dam shows how Trollope's creation of this new, impersonal aesthetic was driven by a desire to intervene in contemporary debates on topics such as suburban sociability and marginalist economics, colonialism and national sovereignty, educational and jurisprudential reforms. Key features Presents a stylistic analysis of a major Victorian novelist Reads Victorian literature through the lens of German Romanticism Presents a panorama of Victorian intellectual debates on colonialism, economics, nationalism, the classics, pedagogy, legal reform, and urban sociability 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.

Publication year:2016