Domestic Manners of the Americans (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Fanny Trollope (Author), Pamela Neville-Sington (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0140435611 | ISBN-13: 978-0140435610 | Publication Date: November 1, 1997

When Fanny Trollope set sail for America in 1827 with hopes of joining a Utopian community of emancipated slaves, she took with her three of her children and a young French artist, leaving behind her son Anthony, growing debts, and a husband going slowly mad from mercury poisoning. But what followed was a tragicomedy of illness, scandal, and failed business ventures. Nevertheless, on her return to England, Fanny turned her misfortunes into a remarkable book. A masterpiece of nineteenth-century travel-writing, "Domestic Manners of the Americans" is a vivid and hugely witty satirical account of a nation and was a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Editorial Reviews

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--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Book Description

Frances Trollope presents an engaging account of her visit to the United States during 1827-1831 in this two-volume travelogue. Published in 1832, it records her often outspoken views on many aspects of nineteenth-century American society. The immediacy of her impressions will arouse the curiosity of readers today. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140435611
• ISBN-13: 978-0140435610
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #557,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, April 3, 2002

By 

Judith C. Kinney (Westerville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Domestic Manners of the Americans (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This is both a great read and an important historical document. Fanny Trollope was the mother of Anthony Trollope, perhaps the most prolific English novelist of the nineteenth century and my favorite. Fanny's husband was ineffectual in the breadwinning department, but fortunately for the family, Fanny herself was energetic and enterprising. She took one of her sons (not Anthony) and an artistic young man to the United States. She was planning to join a friend of hers who was a mover in setting up the utopian community in Harmony, Indiana, but the place turned out to be squalid, and she didn't stay long.

Fanny spent most of her time in the U.S. in Cincinnati and in her book is very hard on the city and its inhabitants. She especially objected to the pigs' role as garbage collectors. (In those days, pigs roamed the streets freely, like sheep grazing.) Fanny felt most of the people she encountered were loud, dirty, vulgar, and fanatically patriotic. It is her vivid descriptions of the physical conditions and the people that give this book its historical and entertainment value.

While she was living in Cinci, she opened a retail emporium and filled it with rather shoddy merchandise sent from England by her husband. She also attempted to bring culture to the inhabitants. Not surprisingly, both ventures failed.

After Mrs. Trollope returned to England, she supported her family by writing novels that were quite popular at the time, though they haven't become the classics her son's have. She spent her final years living in Italy with another son and his wife.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quit the griping, it's a great, funny book!, March 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Domestic Manners of the Americans (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Very entertaining read of the author's trip through 19th Century America, full of wonderful description and enlightening observations. Despite the griping below, Mrs Trollope simply reports what she sees - men spitting tobacco on the floor, ladies off in another room while the guys have a good time, etc. She reports accurately on our forefathers' rugged pioneer spirit, but points out the lack of education everywhere. We want to shout "lies!" but Mark Twain wrote about the same thing, and the aspects of our society that haven't changed much are still being commented on with the same frankness by writers like Saul Bellow, Gore Vidal, Dawn Powell, Paul Theroux and Joan Didion. Many true-hearted Americans will enjoy this book no end. Mrs Trollope clearly loved America and simply wrote truthfully about; she is simply beholden to no one - the essence of good writing. A thoroughly refreshing read.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written, bitchy portrait of the 1830s US, December 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Domestic Manners of the Americans (Paperback)

Frances Trollope was a well-educated and by our standards snobbish Englishwoman who visited the United States in the early part of the 19th century. Her perceptive and caustic insights into the American character remain fresh and surprisingly timeless, as well as being lucid and elegant. The book became a best-seller in England; Mrs. Trollope's son Anthony was so inspired by his mother's success that he became an author himself. Anyone interested in American history needs to read this book, which offers a point of view not often presented on this side of the Atlantic in a style that's a pleasure to read.