Cura te ipsum

[litlover12]

Here's Julian Fellowes on Dickens and Trollope: "In my opinion, the subtlety and moral maze of Anthony Trollope’s writing is far more suited to the modern zeitgeist than the black-and-white morality of Dickens. Dickens’s heroes are flawless, his villains have hearts of stone, whereas Trollope deals not in black and white but in infinite shades of grey."

Now I've nothing against Trollope, mind you -- in fact, coincidentally, I just decided to try the Palliser series, and checked out book one from the library yesterday. And I'm not going to lose any sleep over his characterization of Dickens. (I'll say only that, without much effort, I can come up with a few flawed heroes and conflicted villains in his work!) But . . . I'm sorry, did the creator of Downton Abbey really just lecture us on subtlety??

Comments

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

LOLLLLL, word. Oh, Julian Fellowes.

[goldvermilion87.livejournal.com]

BAHAHHAHAHAAHHHAHAHAAHHAA

Yeah...

(and I get so frustrated when people say "all the characters are black and white" when they just aren't. Dickens? Sidney Carton, anyone?)

[katharhino.livejournal.com]

Surely it's possible to promote Trollope (who is, yes, underrated) without bashing Dickens and Austen??

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! Can't we praise them all?

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

That is pretty strange. When I read "villains have hearts of stone," I immediately thought of Steerforth asking David Copperfield to always think of him at his best, after lamenting his coddled upbringing. (I confess: I first thought of the scene from the mini-series when Daniel Radcliffe played little David. XD)

I'm guessing Fellows just isn't that fond of heroines like poor Esther Sommerson? (Every time I think of Esther, I want to cry. She was so sweet.)

That said, Fellowes is right that there is more ambiguity in Trollope's works.

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

Ha! Julian Fellowes can just stuff it. After last night's episode of Downton I have pretty much no respect left for the man (not that I had much to begin with).

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're alone in that! (I spoiled myself, as I usually do for "Downton.")

[goldvermilion87.livejournal.com]

Downton got WORSE after Season 2?

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

Sadly, yes. They have gone full on heart-breaking soap opera!

[goldvermilion87.livejournal.com]

I quit about 1/3 of the way through series 2 because it was too soapy.

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

I've stuck with it so far but this season may push me over the edge.