How would you summarize your new book in one sentence? A year-old girl struggles for survival through the darkest days of the Anglo-Boer War. How long did it take you to write this book?
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About two months to write, but another few months on either side to research and edit. And many years ago I read a newspaper article about a three-year-old boy named Sipho who had wandered out of his home and somehow managed to survive for several days in the African bush before being found, totally unharmed. The name has stuck with me ever since. How many drafts did you go through? Who was the first person to read your manuscript?
If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it? Besides London, where I currently live, I think it would have to be Rome for the history and culture or Cape Town for the weather and outstanding natural beauty. Did you always want to be a writer? No — when I was a kid, I wanted to be a vet. Then I wanted to be a playwright. What was your very first story about? When did you write it?
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I think I must have been about seven at the time. What was your favourite book as a kid? I also went through a serious Sherlock Holmes phase that lasted right through middle school. If you could be any character from any book, who would you be? If there was one book you wish you had written what would it be?
All this makes the book extremely wearisome to read and the fruit of this labour is rather small and rotten. Svengali is not much of a villain, in fact I found him rather piteous, while Little Billee is nothing more than a moping fop. I can only recommend rereading Dracula or picking up some of the better urban gothic or sensation novels instead of wasting time on this annoying tale of bourgeois complacency. The only reason for the second star is the academic interest I had in the novel and the way it lends itself for an analysis of late nineteenth-century bourgeouis self-fashioning.
Nov 21, Bryn rated it it was amazing. This is a gothic, tragic, beautiful novel and I loved it. There are so many ways in which the narrative defies romantic expectation. Trilby is a Parisian girl, model for various artists. She's a simple, well meaning, innocent soul who at the outset can take her clothes off for art without any real shame.
One of the artists a naive young lad called Billy falls in love with her, but she also wins the attention of Svengali, a dark, twisted sort of person whose intetions towards her are less than g This is a gothic, tragic, beautiful novel and I loved it. One of the artists a naive young lad called Billy falls in love with her, but she also wins the attention of Svengali, a dark, twisted sort of person whose intetions towards her are less than good.
The author, du Maurier is part of the same family as Daphne Du Maurier, although an older generation. Because of the age of the book, there are places it does not go - only hinting at things, and never following any of the protagonists into the bedroom. There are things we do not know about their relatonships, and we don't get inside heads much. There is a fascinating strand involving Trilby's loss of innocence - far less about her own actions than her coming to realise how the world might see her.
The desctiptions are engaging, the plot full of surprises. Mar 09, F. And it is definitely interesting to see this character, to see this phenomenon in its rawest form. Yes, this is a character who harnesses talent, who builds up a star — yet as presented here he lacks the sophistication and glamour of what we now know as a Svengali. But that's no great boast as the book around him is a mess. An unfocused tale of struggling artists in Paris, which fails to realise which are the good sections of its narrative, and instead indulges in dozens of digressions and meanderings.
View all 3 comments. May 11, Carly rated it it was amazing Shelves: The historic name is as much a cultural cliche for dark hypnotic power as the word 'Trilby' denotes a certain style of hat. It had never occurred to me to learn where either originated yet it turns out that George Du Maurier's novel is the source for both. Wildly popular in its day, Trilby is now considered a classic, the Wordsworth Classics edition being the one I spotted in a Spanish campsite library I'm still using my Derren Brown 'Svengali' tour mug which Mum got for me after I saw his show.
Wildly popular in its day, Trilby is now considered a classic, the Wordsworth Classics edition being the one I spotted in a Spanish campsite library. Personally, I am not sure that the novel has aged well! The underlying storyline is a great idea, but its telling is very much of the time. Told by a condescending first person narrator who doesn't actually feature in the story, we get lots of personal asides frequently snobbish, sexist and racist which slow the flowery writing style.
I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of s Paris, but was often infuriated by Du Maurier's pace - get on with it! The potentially most interesting part of the novel, Trilby's take-over by Svengali and her fantastic musical breakthrough, actually happen 'offstage' so the reader is presented with reports of the fait accompli, and while I'm showing off my French, a warning that Du Maurier does that a lot. Often whole conversations are in French with little or nothing by way of translation.
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Hopefully much of it was just small talk as, overall, I probably missed half a dozen pages this way. The characters are strong although, again, very much of their time. Trilby herself is initially a refreshing change. She makes her own money by modelling for artists and is blithely independent.
Of course, as time goes by, she is taught to be ashamed of such a lifestyle and to take pleasure from domestic drudgery instead, and her great success comes only at the instigation of a man, but at least she started out promisingly! Vicious antisemitism is the other big problem with the novel. Svengali is a nasty piece of work. I don't mind that - the tale needs a good villain. But Svengali isn't just A Bad Man. It's repeatedly made plain that his badness is due to his being Jewish and Du Maurier's insults descend to real childish namecalling.
As he spends the rest of the book trying to impart a sense of his own superiority, this really stands out as bizarre. I'm not sure if I enjoyed reading Trilby or not. Some sections are beautifully written with energy, atmosphere and a real knowledge of the Paris of the day. Other sections are slow, ridiculously sentimental or simply pointless. A note to current authors: Mar 27, Michael Simpson rated it it was amazing. In my top 3 faves for sure.
Dec 21, Jilly Bennett rated it it was amazing. After studying abroad in Paris and traveling throughout Europe as a student, this book just hits so many spots. Oct 07, Chris rated it did not like it Shelves: Trilby, George du Maurier's novel, like the hat popularized by the book's stage adaptation, is one to be avoided.
At one point, du Maurier even stops the narrative during a party scene to say that he's reached a slow point in his story and so he's decided that the best course of action is to introduce the various characters attending the party. He then proceeds to give each of the dozen or so characters several lengthy paragraphs devoted to their backstories. None of these characters appear anywhere else in the book. It also helped influence the stereotypical view of "bohemia" and apparently was one source of inspiration for Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, which would see its own stage adaptation much further down the line by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Make of that what you will. Jan 23, Frank rated it it was ok. Reading just about half of the first part of the book was enough to convince me this was a waste of my time. A historic curiosity that may deserve study, but no longer seems able to elicit any pleasure. Apr 08, K. Malone rated it it was amazing. This review may raise some ire with any number of readers because it flies in the face of what they have said and thought about this book as in reviews.
Firstly, I rated it 5 stars which would give one some indication of where I am going here. The problem with the modern American reader is that they rarely can take themselves out of the mindset into which they were born and raised, which quite frankly goes against everything reading is all about i. Lest we forget that reading, by its very nature, is meant to transport the reader to where ever the writer wants them to be. This is meant to address some of the many comments regarding Mr. And to this I would respond, "How else would one describe with accuracy the experience of Englishman living in Paris during the end of the 19th century?
Was it worth every extra effort to read the story and receive it as the author intended? Yes, it was worth every last second. Perhaps I am a little too close to the subject, having faced the same sort of criticism for doing the same thing in my 3rd novel, "An Unfinished House," where my second lead was an illiterate, white trashy hillbilly and I presented much of his dialogue phonetically to sound exactly like it was i.
Would it take more time, some slow and contemplative effort on the part of the uninitiated reader to become accustomed to the cadence? But is it worth it to get the full effect of what I intended? In the end it won 11 Independent publishing awards that year. The word for readers here is "Immersive" defined as "1. Your time would be better spent on a John Grisham pot boiler. Now to the heart of the matter. The now iconic imagery of the starving artists freezing in a cramped Parisian garret began with Henri Murger's novel of that life called "Scenes de la Vie Boheme," later cemented in its place in history by Puccini's opera "La Boheme" in even later translated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan by Jonathan Larson's equally brilliant Broadway musical "Rent" in It was into this dramatic, colorful period that "Trilby" was born in , then recreated once again in W.
Somerset Maugham's The Magician in which I am in the midst of reading as we speak and will review in the near future. Now picture this, gas lit Paris in the mid to late 19th century, at the height of the several artistic movements that spawned everyone from the Impressionists to Rodin to Toulouse Lautrec, all struggling, some literally starving; living on Absinthe, day old bread, cheap wine, dried sausage and moldy cheese; burning their broken up wooden furniture to keep warm, all striving for immortality through their art, crawling all over each other to gain a spot in the prestigious Salon.
It was a world of beautiful courtesans, rich patrons, artists, writers and innocent peasant laundry girls. And maybe this is why I love it so much,because I did exactly that myself in and read "Trilby" while I did it, in a tiny room at the top of a cheap Montmartre hotel and to which I exclaimed one day while standing in front of a bust a young girl wearing a "Trilby Hat" in the Musee Rodin Who in this room has not heard of Svengali? Yet another term ingrained in our popular culture as the mesmerizing villain, not unlike the later Rasputin of Russian history and lore.
It is a tale of how, with his penetrating dark eyes, he spirited the naive, young, pretty but talent-less Trilby O' Ferrall away from her starving artist friends and turned the laundry girl and artist's model into a world renowned grand concert singer, of course ending with a crescendo worthy of the best Greek tragedies.
Now before I leave you, if one were to endeavor to do this, do it right. Set yourself up with some cheap red wine, a ripe oozing Camembert, some crusty bread with a candle on your side table and Vive la Vie Boheme! Aug 03, Shel added it Shelves: In , George Du Maurier, grandfather of writers Angela Du Maurier Pilgrims by the Way, and Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca, , wrote a book with a villain so memorable his name, Svengali, is still used to describe, per Webster's, "one who attempts usu.
However, Svengali doesn't figure largely within the story, which dwells mo In , George Du Maurier, grandfather of writers Angela Du Maurier Pilgrims by the Way, and Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca, , wrote a book with a villain so memorable his name, Svengali, is still used to describe, per Webster's, "one who attempts usu. However, Svengali doesn't figure largely within the story, which dwells mostly on the life of a young artist and his cadre of friends in bohemian Paris — all highly romanticized.
Take this passage for example, "Oh, happy days and happy nights, sacred to art and friendship! Oh, happy times of careless impecuniosity, and youth and hope and health and strength and freedom — with all Paris for a playground, and its dear old unregenerate Latin Quarter for a workshop, and a home! At one point, the narrator says, "All this sounds very goody-goody, but it's true. The story forwards some ideas about equality across lines of class and gender that were probably ahead of its time and remain applicable today.
At the same time, it contains some jolting racism. The novel ends with an idyllic description of the death of a beloved character. Trilby prepares for her death at home with all of her friends around her. They visit daily, read her stories, listen to her recollections, and help her dictate her will, realize she is dying, and make peace with her death. Trilby lay tranquil and happy, and with a sense that nothing remained for her but to enjoy the fleeting hour, and make the most of each moment as it went by.
Aug 12, Kurtbg rated it it was ok Shelves: Her 1 suspect was an artist by the name of Walter Sickert. His favorite was book was said to be Trilby. I was intrigued to find out if I could identify anything that would have been of interest to a serial killer. The book was written in the mid 's and is about the lives of 3 english artists living in Paris and their commaraderie. Enter Trilby, of a young british stock who happ I had read Patricia Cornwalls' 'Portrait of a Killer' in which she exposits on who Jack the Ripper could have been.
Enter Trilby, of a young british stock who happens to possess the most beautiful foot. She's very popular with certain artists. Perhaps 'foot' is code word for something else? Trilby casts a spell on the trio of men and they all become fast friends, until Billie's mom hears of this and breaks it up. She's successful where Lady Catherine de Burgh failed. Triby skips town promising never to see young Billie again. A couple years pass and Trilby becomes a singing sensation under the tutelage of a musician and teacher who had also frequented the british trio.
It happens that the maestro has her under a spell. The spell is broken and Trilby dies. A round of sadness, please. What could be of interest to a serial killer? Sickert drew pictures of appendage including foot - as any artist would sketch studies. Trilby is kind of a Helen of Troy meets Zooey Deschanel like charisma but not necessarily looks.
Everybody wants her, but she's a little quirky - "Milk below! Perhaps there's a fixation to protect inncocent madonnas. When he find out they're ladies of the evening he goes ballistic on them. The SK's MO is once they get a taste the allure for killing heightens.
Stones for My Father
I found the only interest to an SK would be that the maestro hypnotizes mesmermism Trilby to fix her physical ailments and to make her believe she's a talented opera singer. When the connection is broken she dies.
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Can that happen in real life? The former, maybe, the latter, I highly doubt. The paranormal was big in the turn of the century. It would have had some impact on the JTR. Probably a respectable married guy who got a lass pregnant and decided to avoid scandal by offing her. Sep 21, Matt Kelland rated it it was ok Shelves: Slow, ponderous, self-indulgent, and nowhere near as interesting as it could have been. The narrative is broken up by constant authorial observations and commentary, interminable character backgrounds, and pretense that it's a true story. The worst point was where, after telling us about some important events, he adds a paragraph that says I paraphrase , "well, at least that's what I've heard, but I wasn't there at the time, so if any readers who were actually present can write to me care of my Slow, ponderous, self-indulgent, and nowhere near as interesting as it could have been.
The worst point was where, after telling us about some important events, he adds a paragraph that says I paraphrase , "well, at least that's what I've heard, but I wasn't there at the time, so if any readers who were actually present can write to me care of my publisher, I'll be happy to correct any details in a future edition.
It's fiction, for crying out loud. If you're the author, you don't need to pretend you don't know what happened.
Or, if you do, have a reason for it, and don't be so clumsy about it. His characterization of Trilby is appallingly patronizing and misogynistic. He describes her joie de vivre, and then goes off on a rant for several pages about how that's not ladylike, speaking directly to the reader about his own opinions of "that kind of woman". If your characterizations don't work on their own without your opinions over the top, you're not describing your characters very well.
Please try again later. Israel Drazin Top Contributor: Trilby is a good novel with many flaws. One is that the author, George Du Maurier, the grandfather of the romantic novelist Dame Daphne Du Maurier , placed French sayings, parts of conversations, and even significant sentences and paragraphs in French, several times on every single page of his tale, making it impossible for non-French speakers to get the entire gist of what is happening.
Another fault is that the characters in the tale are either entirely good and even noble and extremely likeable, while the villain, Svengali, is very bad, despicably bad, so bad that his name is used today for a monster of a man who tries to dominate and direct women. But the worse flaw in the novel is its anti-Semitic portrayal of the Jew Svengali, who many scholars are convinced inspired Bram Stoker when he wrote his book Dracula.
Both Svengali and Dracula are able to control women, force them to do what they want the women to do against their will, and to do so in a manner that enhances their goal while harming the women who do what is demanded in a trance-like fugue. He was also an illustrator for the periodical Punch and other magazines. He added his drawings to his published novel Trilby, and the drawings of Svengali are similar to those used by the Nazis, in their demeaning and dehumanizing of Jews.
Du Maurier was the author of three books. Trilby was his second and only successful novel. It was published in book form, after being serialized the prior year, in , and a play based on the book was performed the same year, and films were made of the novel in later years.
Trilby is set in the s in France. The novel has in essence two interlocking plots. The first is the thwarted love between two innocents, pure-minded, trusting youths, Trilby age 17 or 18, a naked model for painters and sculptors, and Little Billie, a painter, about the same age. Trilby loved to sing the one song she knew, but she was a terrible singer.
The second plot focuses on Svengali. He is a master musician and hypnotist. He gains control over the life and thoughts of Trilby through hypnotism and transforms her into the greatest diva of her time. She sang gloriously in hypnosis, but only while she was in a trance. Whenever Du Maurier mentions Svengali he disparages him, and usually reminds readers that he is a Jew. Svengali is between age 30 and He is sinister looking, shabby, unbathed, dirty, with lusterless hair, yellow teeth, insolent black eyes, a beard that grew from under his eyelids, has a mean and harsh voice and his words sounded ghastly.
When he has Trilby under his control and has enslaved her, he tells everyone that she is his wife and calls her La Svengali, but tells Trilby that he is married and has children, and cannot marry her; both statements are lies; he is not married. Du Maurier does not explain why this information about his lie to Trilby is placed in the book. It is likely that it is hinting that he has had sex with her. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. A brilliant book written in the style of Thackery.
The characters are unforgettable, ranging from the beloved Trilby to the sinister Svengali. What may surprise today's readers is, that in terms of word count alone, Svengali plays a minor role.
Stones for My Father by Trilby Kent | tandjfoods.com
That he, rather than the sainted Trilby has become a legend speaks to his impact on the plot. Mystery lovers should add this novel to their list of books to read. The mystery of Trilby's forgetfulness is not solved until the final emotional scene. A warning, however, as much of the setting of the book is in Paris, many dialogues are in French. High school French, but French, so be prepared. It may not be possible to find a more cultured and pleasant novel than this.
The novel depicts the life of bohemian artists in mid-nineteenth century Paris, something which I imagine must have been incredibly attractive to victorians.