Mrs. General Talboys

Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 52K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mrs. General Talboys by Anthony TrollopeAuthor: Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

Mrs. General Talboys is a novella by Anthony Trollope that continues his close observation of Victorian social manners and psychology. The story revolves around the social life of a general's widow, presenting in a lightly satirical tone the vanity, calculation and worldly wisdom beneath respectable appearances. Trollope's narration is calm and restrained, the dialogue vivid, and the characters, though briefly drawn, are sharply outlined; it serves well as an entry into his shorter fiction. The piece is short enough to finish in one sitting on a commute or an afternoon; afterward, savor the narrator's subtle judgments of the characters' words and deeds. Being a Project Gutenberg electronic edition, the English original is convenient for comparative study, but it lacks modern notes, so details of period background must be checked by the reader. Overall, it is a comedy of manners suited to both casual reading and close attention by literature lovers.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Victorian novels of manners and a lightly satirical tone
Literature lovers who want a short introduction to Trollope
English learners who need short English texts for close-reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting strong dramatic conflict or suspenseful plots
Beginning researchers who need detailed historical notes and scholarly introductions

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting to grasp the overall satirical tone, then revisit the subtext in the dialogue.
Note the narrator's evaluative language in social scenes and appreciate the measure of irony.
Compare with other Victorian short stories to observe similarities and differences in the comedy of manners.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How long does it take to read this story?

It is a novella; readers with average English reading speed usually finish it in one to two hours. Set aside uninterrupted time to appreciate the narrative rhythm and the effect of the satirical ending.

Will not knowing Victorian background affect my understanding?

The basic plot is not hard to follow, but the social meaning of some etiquette and forms of address requires background knowledge. A brief look at upper-middle-class British social customs of the period, before or after reading, helps identify what is being satirized.

Is this one of Trollope's major works?

It is more often seen as a work showing his skill in short fiction than as one of his most cited major novels. It is suitable as supplementary reading for understanding his style and satirical technique, not as a basis for judging his achievement in the long novel.

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About the author

Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882 Author

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) was a prolific English novelist of the Victorian era, with 83 works held in this collection. He is best known for the Barsetshire novels, including The Last Chronicle of Barset, Barchester Towers, and Framley Parsonage, which are set in a fictional English county and portray the daily life, social manners, and power struggles of the clergy and gentry. Other major works, such as The Way We Live Now, The Prime Minister, Orley Farm, and Can You Forgive Her?, turn to politics, business, and marriage, revealing with careful restraint and gentle irony the tension between social convention and personal ambition. Public information is limited, yet his plain narrative style, large casts of clearly drawn characters, and depiction of Victorian social structure retain lasting value for readers.