Bücher von Anthony Trollope

Ce livre classique a été initialement publié il y a des décennies sous le titre " The Macdermots of Ballycloran ". Il a maintenant été traduit par Writat en langue française pour leurs lecteurs francophones. Chez Writat, nous sommes passionnés par la préservation du patrimoine littéraire du passé. Nous avons traduit ce livre en français afin que les générations présentes et futures puissent le lire et le conserver.

As an old squire approaches his death, he vacillates over how to leave his substantial property: to the niece he loves, or to the nephew he despises? A will is made in favor of the nephew, following the squire¿s sense of duty. But during the young man¿s visit to the estate, the squire¿s revulsion makes him produce a new will in favor of his niece. After his funeral, the earlier will is found among his papers, but not the later one. Cousin Henry takes his place as the new squire under a cloud, and worse¿as it transpires that, unknown to anyone else, he alone knows where the later will is hidden. Too weak to destroy the will, and too greedy to disclose its existence, he descends into misery as the lawyers close in.Anthony Trollope¿s later fiction is marked by his keen interest in the psychology of his characters, what Michael Sadleir called his ¿novels of the mind.¿ In Cousin Henry, the plot is simple, but the psychological is paramount. The inner life of each of the leading characters is laid bare under Trollope¿s pen: not only the unfortunate Cousin Henry, but equally his proud and imperious rival, Isabel, and the indefatigable lawyer, Mr. Apjohn.

Framley Parsonage is the fourth novel in Trollope¿s Chronicles of Barsetshire series. Originally a serial, it was first published as a book in 1861, and it has since been praised for its unsentimental depiction of the lives of middle-class people in the mid-Victorian era.As with the other books in the series, Framley Parsonage is set in the fictious English county of Barsetshire, and deals with the doings of a variety of families and characters who live in the region, several of whom have appeared in the previous books; but it primarily concerns the young Reverend Mark Robarts.Robarts has been appointed as vicar of the parish of Framley through the patronage of Lady Lufton of Framley Court, the mother of his long-time friend Ludovic, now Lord Lufton. After he and his wife Fanny take up residence in Framley Parsonage, Robarts is led into the society of some loose-living aristocrats through his friendship with Ludovic. Robarts eventually finds himself weakly consenting to his name being included on a bill for a loan to one of his new connections, Sowerby. By so doing, he becomes liable for debts he cannot possibly satisfy.An important secondary thread involves Mark Robarts¿ sister Lucy, who after their father¿s death comes to live with her brother¿s family at the parsonage. Through them, she becomes acquainted with Lady Lufton and her son Ludovic, and romantic complications ensue.Framley Parsonage was originally published anonymously in serial form in Cornhill Magazine, and such was its popularity that during its publication a hysterical young woman apparently tried to gain notoriety in her country town by claiming to be its author. ¿The real writer,¿ we are told, ¿dealt very gently with the pretender.¿

Barchester Towers, published in 1857, is the sequel to Trollope¿s The Warden and continues the story of the clerical doings in the fictional cathedral town of Barchester.As this novel opens, the old Bishop of Barchester lies dying, and there is considerable doubt as to who will replace him. The Bishop¿s son Dr. Grantly, the Archdeacon, has high hopes of succeeding him, but these hopes are dashed and a new Bishop, Dr. Proudie, is appointed. Along with Dr. Proudie comes his domineering wife and their ambitious chaplain the Reverend Mr. Slope.The old clerical party headed by Dr. Grantly and the new, championed by Mrs. Proudie and Mr. Slope, are soon in contention over Church matters. These two parties represent a then-significant struggle between different evangelical approaches in the Church of England. One local issue in particular is fought over¿the appointment of a new Warden for Hiram¿s Hospital, the focus of the preceding book.Mrs. Eleanor Bold is the daughter of Mr. Harding, the prior Warden. She has recently been widowed. The wealth she inherited from her late husband makes her an attractive match, and her affections are in contention from several prospective suitors, including the oily Mr. Slope. All of this lends itself to considerable humor and interest.Though not well received by critics on its initial publication, Barchester Towers is now regarded as one of Trollope¿s most popular novels. Together with The Warden, it was made into a very successful television series by the BBC in 1982.

It was in April of last year, 1877, that I first formed a plan of paying an immediate visit to South Africa. The idea that I would one day do so had long loomed in the distance before me. Except the South African group I had seen all our great groups of Colonies, among which in my own mind I always include the United States, for to my thinking, our Colonies are the lands in which our cousins, the descendants of our forefathers, are living and still speaking our language. I had become more or less acquainted I may say with all these offshoots from Great Britain, and had written books about them all.

Doctor Thorne is the third book in Trollope¿s Chronicles of Barsetshire series, which is set in the fictional county of Barsetshire, somewhere in England¿s West Country. Unlike the two earlier novels in the series, Doctor Thorne isn¿t set in the cathedral city of Barchester, but in the small village of Greshamsbury and the estate of the local squire, Greshamsbury Park.Doctor Thorne is a middle-aged medical practitioner in Greshamsbury, a friend of the local squire Mr. Gresham, who is deeply in debt because of ill-advised attempts to gain a seat in Parliament. Doctor Thorne not only provides medical advice to the Greshams, but also assists Mr. Gresham in obtaining financial loans from a local self-made entrepreneur, Sir Richard Scratcherd. When Mr. Gresham¿s son Frank comes of age, it is impressed on the young man that he must ¿marry money¿ to overcome the debts of the estate.Doctor Thorne is regarded highly among Trollope¿s works, with one prominent critic, Michael Sadleir, writing in 1927 of ¿the sensational perfection of Doctor Thorne.¿A television adaptation of the book was produced by ITV and aired in March 2016, with a script written by Julian Fellowes, the writer of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey

High politics are not always centrally in view in Anthony Trollope¿s Palliser novels, but parliamentary life comes to the fore throughout Phineas Finn, the second in the series.The hero of the tale is the young son of an Irish country doctor, now attaining manhood and striking out in life. Although training for the Bar, he feels the lure of Parliament and manages to secure a seat. Blessed with good fortune, ¿comely inside and out,¿ and pleasant company to both women and men, he begins to climb the ladder. Along with his undoubted triumphs there come also palpable failures¿social as well as political. Leaving behind a sweetheart in Ireland, he encounters women of high status and fashion in London who place their own claims on his heart.While Phineas is clearly the hero of the novel bearing his name, the lives of a number of remarkable women become intertwined with his own, each of whom he loves, after a fashion. The portrait of Lady Laura Standish¿who serves as his political muse as well¿is especially poignantly drawn, while Violet Effingham and the somewhat mysterious Madame Max Goesler each have an individuated strength and depth of character. Each, too, mirrors in different ways the dilemma faced by Phineas in his political career: whether it is better to be subservient and ¿succeed,¿ or maintain independence and risk being an outcast.The writing of Phineas Finn coincided with Trollope¿s own political awakening and aspirations. While working on this novel, he was also composing a memoir of Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister who had died in office only a couple years previously. (The memoir remained unpublished until 1882.) By this point in his mid fifties, Trollope made his own attempt to secure a seat as a member of Parliament in 1868, failed, and was scarred by the experience. The literary critic Michael Sadleir characterized Trollope¿s parliamentary fiction as showing a ¿preoccupation with political society [but] indifference to political theory,¿ perhaps unfairly. Especially in the character of Mr. Monk, Phineas¿s chief political mentor, much wisdom for parliamentary life is imparted.Trollope¿s political failure does not yet cast a shadow on the optimism which pervades Phineas Finn. The novelist¿s own views would ripen along with those of his characters as the series took shape. Still, in his autobiography Trollope was able to declare, ¿Phineas Finn, I certainly think, was successful from first to last.¿

At the end of Phineas Finn, the second of Anthony Trollope¿s Palliser series, Phineas has abandoned his parliamentary career, accepted a sinecure in the civil service in Dublin, and married his Irish sweetheart. As Phineas Redux begins, he is a widower and tired of Dublin life.Fortunately for him, his friends in London believe he might be enticed back to take a role as a member of Parliament in the face of the latest political crisis. Phineas answers the call¿but all does not turn out as planned. His friends welcome him back, but even this involves serious social complications. And, it transpires, even the likable Phineas Finn has political enemies who wish to spoil his return to public life. Along the way, Phineas continues to deepen his understanding of both personal and public politics.As in The Eustace Diamonds, Trollope weaves high drama into his plot, but refuses to keep secrets from his readers. Far from having a dampening effect on the tension, the focus of Trollope¿s art directs his readers¿ attention to the psychological conflicts that arise.At this point in the series, something of Trollope¿s own political disappointments begin to cast a shadow over the maneuvers and machinations of both local and parliamentary politics. There is still a nobility about public service, though, of which Trollope never loses sight, and which will play a larger role as the series moves towards its conclusion.

Lady Eustace¿more familiarly known as Lizzie¿is very beautiful, very clever, and very rich. On closer inspection, she turns out also to be a ¿nasty, low, scheming, ill-conducted, dishonest little wretch.¿ Her calculated marriage to a wealthy but sickly young baronet brought her the wealth she desired, including a spectacular diamond necklace which she wore in the days before her husband¿s demise. Upon his death, the lawyer for the estate is determined to recover it as a family heirloom. The young widow is equally determined to keep it as her own.But just as Lizzie sought a life of ease by marrying money, so too there are those who see in Lady Eustace their opportunity to acquire riches along with the beautiful widow herself. Given the relentless, even fierce, legal forces she faces regarding the diamonds, Lizzie is also alert to the benefit she would enjoy from having a husband to support her. But which is it to be? The tedious Lord Fawn, who would bring a title? Her cousin and confidant, Frank Greystock, who is a member of Parliament but saddled with debt? Or the debonair but dubious Lord George de Bruce Carruthers? Or perhaps none of them!Lizzie¿s life of lies and calculation has echoes and mirrors in the novel¿s subplots. She falls in with an unsavory and scheming set which includes a desperately ill-suited couple being driven towards a potentially disastrous marriage. Meanwhile, the love life of her childhood friend, the plain, poor, and pure Lucy Morris, seems to be the antithesis to Lizzie¿s own.Anthony Trollope felt real ambivalence about the growing interest in mystery novels, whose popularity was burgeoning as he sat down to write The Eustace Diamonds. Wilkie Collins¿s The Moonstone had just been published to huge success, giving birth to the detective novel genre. Trollope would have none of it, and kept no secrets from his readers. That The Eustace Diamonds maintains a sense of drama and intrigue in spite of Trollope¿s forthright narration is a testament to his skill as a storyteller.There are also signs of Trollope plotting a future course for his Palliser series, of which The Eustace Diamonds is the third. Political life is not absent, but it is wholly subservient to the events that swirl around Lizzie and her companions. As the novel closes, Trollope winks at his readers, informing us that we haven¿t seen the last of Lizzie Eustace yet.

Almost since the first appearance of Plantagenet Palliser in the novels of Anthony Trollope, he has been accompanied by his effervescent wife, Lady Glencora. As the final installment of the Palliser series begins, she has been cruelly taken from him by a fatal illness, just at the moment when their three children are making their way in the world¿and finding marriage partners of their own. But the younger generation does not seem to share the Duke¿s values. The loves of both his eldest son and his only daughter in particular trouble him deeply, bringing into conflict his intellectual commitments and his emotional attachments.As with Phineas Finn, there are three notable female characters to add to Trollope¿s roster of impressive women: Lady Mabel Grex, the American Isabel Boncassen, and the youngest of the Duke¿s children, Lady Mary. The last in particular serves as a foil to the disappointments of Lady Laura Standish seen in the previous novels, and explores again the might-have-beens of choices gone awry.In other ways, too, The Duke¿s Children gathers up themes from earlier Palliser novels: forgiveness, constancy, the maturing of youth, the constraints of nature, the disruptions of chance. Importantly, too, it displays complexities of political commitments from the vantage point of a younger generation coming of age. All this seems to have been deliberate. The manuscript for the novel shows Trollope made cuts¿very rare in his corpus¿of about 65,000 words at the request of the publisher. These often develop more explicitly the back-references to the earlier novels.As the series concludes, Trollope finally gives vent to his own bitter experience of parliamentary elections: ¿Parliamentary canvassing is not a pleasant occupation. Perhaps nothing more disagreeable, more squalid, more revolting to the senses, more opposed to personal dignity, can be conceived.¿ This account is often to taken to arise out of Trollope¿s own experience of campaigning in Beverly where he stood as a Liberal candidate in east Yorkshire. Despite Trollope¿s disgust at the process, and disappointment at the outcome, The Duke¿s Children ends with the Duke of Omnium returning to office, and an optimistic outlook for the political careers of the next generation.

Plantagenet Palliser, now the Duke of Omnium, is a familiar character to the readers of the Barchester and Palliser series, but only now, at a moment of political crisis, does he take center stage. Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives can command a majority in Parliament; the Duke is called upon as the only figure capable of forming a coalition government. He does so, but only with deep misgivings about whether the role of Prime Minister suits his character. As he assumes the role, the irrepressible Duchess, still known as Lady Glencora to her friends as well as her enemies, forms an ambition of her own to bolster his administration with lavish social display, much to her husband¿s consternation.The antitype to the virtuous Duke is the character of Ferdinand Lopez, whose story¿along with that of his wife, and his rival¿frames and intertwines with that of the Prime Minister¿s coalition government. While the Duke is upright but thin-skinned, Lopez possesses the thickest of skins, but no morals to speak of. His vaulting ambition likewise contrasts with the Duke¿s enervating self-doubt.Trollope commenced writing The Prime Minister only a few weeks after completing his masterpiece, The Way We Live Now. His caustic treatment of contemporary English society in the earlier novel spills over into the menace posed by Lopez in this one.Though contemporary critics were not impressed by The Prime Minister, C. P. Snow reports in his biography of Trollope that others were. Leo Tolstoy, for one, read it with appreciation while writing Anna Karenina, his secretary recording Tolstoy¿s admiration: ¿Trollope kills me, kills me with his excellence.¿ Meanwhile, Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, told Snow that Trollope¿s studies of political process were ¿right both in tone and detail.¿

The Warden is concerned with the unassuming Rev. Septimus Harding, who has for many years been the Warden of Hiram¿s Hospital in the fictional town of Barchester. This ¿hospital¿ is what we would today probably call an aged-care or retirement home. It was established under the provisions of a will to look after the needs of old men too feeble to work any longer and unable to support themselves. Mr. Harding benefits financially from his position, though the duties are very slight.A local doctor, though sweet on Mr. Harding¿s daughter Eleanor, is nevertheless a keen reformer, zealous to overturn what he sees as corrupt patronage in the Church. He investigates the terms of Hiram¿s will and concludes that the money intended for the benefit of the aged wool-carders is unfairly being consumed by the salary of the Warden. He proceeds to pursue this issue through the pages of a crusading journal, The Jupiter.Though strongly defended by the Church authorities, including his son-in-law Archdeacon Grantly, Mr. Harding has long struggles with his conscience because of this imputation.The Warden, published in 1855, was Trollope¿s first major writing success, and formed the basis for a series of six novels set in the same fictional county and its cathedral city of Barchester, now known as the ¿Chronicles of Barsetshire.¿

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age.Will you support our efforts with a donation?Harry Heathcote is a young immigrant ¿squatter,¿ farming thousands of acres in Queensland, Australia. His strong personality wins the loyalty of friends and family. But that same imperious nature makes him enemies, too, who would like nothing more than to see him ruined. As Christmas approaches, the conditions for his ruin arise naturally in the intense, scorching heat of a southern hemisphere summer. His enemies, however, spot an opportunity to give nature a helping hand. Their sharp conflict contrasts with a muted romantic subplot¿but even here, Heathcote¿s tone and temper complicate the path of true love.An invitation to produce a ¿Christmas story¿ came while Anthony Trollope was writing The Way We Live Now. Harry Heathcote was the result, fulfilling the brief, but without the ¿humbug¿ that Trollope believed marred too much writing in that genre.Harry Heathcote is one of Trollope¿s shorter novels, but still displays his sharp psychological insight into his leading characters, and his capacity to produce natural dialog. It also draws on his first-hand knowledge of his son¿s experience of farming in Australia, observed during Trollope¿s extended tour of the Antipodes in 1871.