The Way We Live Now
The tough-mindedness of the social satire in and its air of palpable integrity give this novel a special place in Anthony Trollope's Literary career. Trollope paints a picture as panoramic as his title promises, of the life of 1870s London, the loves of those drawn to and through the city, and...
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The tough-mindedness of the social satire in and its air of palpable integrity give this novel a special place in Anthony Trollope's Literary career. Trollope paints a picture as panoramic as his title promises, of the life of 1870s London, the loves of those drawn to and through the city, and the career of Augustus Melmotte. Melmotte is one of the Victorian novel's greatest and strangest creations, and is an achievement undimmed by the passage of time. Trollope's 'Now' might, in the twenty-first century, look like some distant disenchanted 'Then', but this is still the yesterday which we must understand in order to make proper sense of our today.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781853262555 (1853262552)
Publish date: February 5th 2004
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
Pages no: 800
Edition language: English
”There are a thousand little silly softnesses which are pretty and endearing between acknowledged lovers, with which no woman would like to dispense, to which even men who are in love submit sometimes with delight; but which in other circumstances would be vulgar,— and to the woman distasteful. Ther...
This is Trollope at his best - Dickens with all the social urgency and none of the sentimentality. As burningly relevant now as it was then - banking scandals and all. A must-read.
Although this book includes the required Victorian love story, The Way We Live Now focuses more on the actions of Augustus Melmotte, a foreign financier who is turning heads of London society, with his amazing wealth and ability to make money. But actually, Melmotte is swindling investors by sellin...
Why: I know this a darker Trollope, where the characters all hunger after mammon in an unseemly way (is there any other way to do so?). It seems appropriate in these times, after all the greed and self-promotion that brought us the current economic collapse. This review (http://www.goodreads.com/rev...
Classic Trollopian view of greed, envy, and lust in Victorian England. Rather depressing overall, but nevertheless a great novel by one of my favorites.
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