The Bertrams (The World's Classics) [Paperback]

Anthony Trollope (Author), Geoffrey Harvey (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 1991 | Series: The World's Classics

Set in the Middle East, but informed by the ramifications of of the repeal of the Corn Laws and the rise of Tractarianism, The Bertrams is a tale of doomed love and a remarkable blend of psychological insight, trenchant satire, and deft social comedy. Published in the same year as Darwin's Origin of Species its story of the contrasting careers of three Oxford graduates echoes the idea of the survival of the fittest. This fully annotated edition of the novel Trollope hoped would secure him a reputation as a serious author uses the original 1859 text. This book is intended for trollope fans; students and teachers of nineteenth-century literature and history, general.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Geoffrey Harvey is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Reading, and edited Mr Scarborough's Family for World's Classics

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 18, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019282645X
• ISBN-13: 978-0192826459
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,049,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"Anthony Trollope (1815-82) became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire, but he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and
conflicts of his day."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Trollope, September 8, 2009

By 

Cynthia "Andante Cantabile" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Bertrams (Selected Works of Anthony Trollope) (Hardcover)

Trollope wrote "The Bertrams" fairly early in his writing career and to me it felt different from his usual fare. Of course there was his theme of boy meets girl, he/they fall in love, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy eventually wins girl. The emotion seemed more raw though. In "Bertrams" Trollope also threw in some exotic locales such as Jerusalem and Egypt. On the surface this can seem boring but Trollope was always so good at looking under his character's skin to their psychology, their emotions, and motivations. His writing never gets old for me and compared to some of today's harsher literature and even harsher current political/financial/emotional climate reading Trollope feels like a conversation with a trusted friend. He never lets you down.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF HIS BEST, November 29, 2003

By 

LINDA LEVEN - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bertrams: A Novel (Trollope, Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)

THE STORY IS ESSENTIALLY A LOVE STORY -- ABOUT 2 MAIN COUPLES. THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBPLOTS, ALSO. THE STORY INVOLVES TWO YOUNG MEN WHO ARE EACH IN LOVE, ONE GEORGE BERTRAM AND ONE ARTHUR W. GEORGE DENOUNCES HIS UNCLES MONEY AND WILL NOT BE MOVED TO ANY SORT OF ACTION BY IT -- THUS CAUSING THE WOMAN HE LOVES TO POSTPONE THEIR MARRIAGE. SHE WANTS TO LIVE WELL WITH LOTS OF MONEY. ON THE OTHER HAND, ARTHUR DOES THE SAME, FEELING HE CANNOT MARRY HIS LOVE SINCE HE HAS NO MONEY. THE EFFECT THAT MONEY OR THE LACK THEREOF HAS ON THESE 4 PEOPLE AND THE OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE STORY IS THE CENTRAL THEME. THE BOOK IS SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND EXAMINES DEEPLY THE PSYCHE OF ALL THE CHARACTERS. I LOVED IT!

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BERTRAMS, January 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bertrams (The World's Classics) (Paperback)

"The Bertrams is one of Trollope's more remarkable novels, drawing on his experiences in Egypt and the Holy Land, and has an unusually exotic flavour, particularly for readers familiar only with the English rural world of his Barsetshire series."