Critical Concerns of the ’Sixties: Tragedy and Imagination

Abstract

During the period of Trollope’s greatest popularity, from 1860 to 1869, when half the world was mad over his novels, there were numbers of critics who dissented from the general enthusiasm, and doubted whether his fiction really qualified as art. In fact, they had not as yet settled to their own satisfaction what was the true scope and status of novels, like his, which dealt with contemporary life. He was lauded by many as a fashionable favourite, as a moral preceptor, and as elegantiae arbiter but there were others who found him devoid of passionate intensity, and lacking in imaginative power. He suffered numerous attacks on these scores, notably from the Saturday Review and (for a while) the Westminster² varying from sneering slights to outright virulence. Meanwhile certain critics stood between the extremes, bestowing qualified but intelligent approval.