- Trilby (novel)
"Trilby" (1894) is a gothic horror novel by
George du Maurier and one of the most popular novels of its time, perhaps the second best selling novel of the "Fin de siècle " period afterBram Stoker 's "Dracula ". "Trilby" is set in the 1850s in an idyllic bohemianParis . Though it features the hijinks of three lovable English artists — especially the delicate genius Little Billee — its most memorable character isSvengali , a Jewish rogue, a masterful musician, and an irresistible hypnotist.Trilby O'Ferrall, the novel's heroine, is a magnificent half-Irish girl working in Paris as an artists' model and laundress; all the men in the novel are in love with her. The relation between Trilby and Svengali forms only a small portion of the novel, which is mainly an evocation of a "
milieu ", but it is a crucial one.Plot summary
Trilby is literally tone-deaf: "Svengali would test her ear, as he called it, and strike the C in the middle and then the F just above, and ask which was the highest; and she would declare they were both exactly the same."
Even so, Svengali hypnotizes her and transforms her into a great diva, la Svengali. Under his spell, Trilby becomes a talented singer, performing always in an amnesiac trance. At a performance in
London , Svengali is stricken with a heart attack and is unable to induce the trance. Trilby is unable to sing in tune and is subjected to "laughter, hoots, hisses, cat-calls, cock-crows." Not having been hypnotised, she is completely baffled and cannot remember anything about Svengali or her singing career.Reception
The novel was adapted into a long-running play starring Sir
Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Svengali.John Barrymore played the title role in theWarner Brothers release "Svengali" (1931). A musical adaptation byFrank Wildhorn , entitled "Svengali", was staged twice in 1991.The novel inspired
Gaston Leroux 's novel "The Phantom of the Opera " (1910) and introduced the phrase "in the altogether" (meaning "completely unclothed") to theEnglish language , as well as indirectly inspiring the name of theTrilby hat, originally worn on stage by a character in the play.The novel contained a thinly veiled portrait, in the character of the pompous and eccentric "idle apprentice" Joe Sibley, of painter
James McNeill Whistler . Whistler threatened to sue forlibel unless the character was removed and Du Maurier apologized. The writing was revised, and no public apology was made.A
fandom developed around the Trilby story character, which was criticized in "Belsham's Essays".The Trilby story was parodied in
Mighty Mouse cartoons in the 1940's that featured Pearl Pureheart andOil Can Harry .Influences
In "Angels of Music" by
Kim Newman , published in "Tales of the Shadowmen " Vol. 2 (2006), Erik gathers his own "Charlie's Angels "-like team of female agents, the so-called Angels of Music, consisting ofChristine Daae ,Irene Adler and Trilby O'Ferrall.External links
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/bohem/ttrilby.html Article about "Trilby"] on
Mount Holyoke College 's "Bohemianism and Counterculture" site.
*" [http://www.hypnosisinmedia.com/index.php?title=Fiction:Du_Maurier%2C_George_%28Trilby%29 Trilby] "; Complete online text of the novel.
*" [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605601.txt Trilby] "; Complete online text, fromProject Gutenberg .
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/beerbohm.html Herbert Beerbohm Tree archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection] ,University of Bristol
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