Comments | misssylviadrake: Anthony Powell claims to find Trollope unreadable

misssylviadrake

Anthony Powell claims to find Trollope unreadable

Jun 12, 2015 19:02

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travel book, anthony trollope, reading life, trollope, 19th century, jim's death, widowhood

Comments 5

Powell's snobbishness misssylviadrake June 13 2015, 00:20:34 UTC

John W: "Powell's snobbishness is one of his grave defects. I love him, especially the Dance, but he can be a right git."

Re: Powell's snobbishness misssylviadrake June 13 2015, 10:49:59 UTC

You think his complaint is a cover-up for snobbishness or disdain for popular taste. I'm not sure Trollope is a popular taste. You have to know a lot about Parliament to enjoy him. Plus I have met people who say they cannot read Trollope. Sometimes people who love Dickens. There is one guy on my Trollope19thcStudies list on Yahoo who cannot read him. I've also met people beyond me who think at least many of his portraits of women are not quite or at all believable.

Remembering Powell misssylviadrake June 13 2015, 10:55:31 UTC

Andrew: "I had forgotten that passage, Ellen--I came to Trollope later than to Powell and "Dance" is a sort of touchstone for me. Thanks for jogging the memory!"

difficult to convey Trollope to others misssylviadrake June 13 2015, 11:57:08 UTC

Donna R: "Great post! I do like the critique, even if it does not match my sentiments. I've often found it hard to describe Trollope to those not familiar with him."

Powell's snobbishness misssylviadrake June 13 2015, 12:09:23 UTC

John W: "In his memoirs, Powell refers to AT in a very slighting way, as if he's ashamed to share similar gifts with so bourgeois a writer. I'll try to hunt up the reference when I go upstate, where my copy is."

Me: Ah. Now I've not read these. I have them: Jim loved Powell. He read A Dance to the Music of Time at least twice; I have all Powell's novels (which he read) and memoirs too. Powell is happy to acknowledge Thackeray as his master. I've noticed that.