Trilby (novel)

Trilby is a novel by George du Maurier and one of the most popular novels of its time. Published serially in Harper's Monthly in 1894, it was published in book form in 1895 and sold 200,000 copies in the United States alone. Trilby is set in the 1850s in an idyllic bohemian Paris. Though it features the stories of two English artists and a Scottish artist, one of the most memorable characters is Svengali, a Jewish rogue, masterful musician and hypnotist.

Trilby O'Ferrall, the novel's heroine, is a half-Irish girl working in Paris as an artists' model and laundress; all the men in the novel are in love with her. The relationship between Trilby and Svengali forms only a small, though crucial, portion of the novel, which is mainly an evocation of a milieu.

Luc Sante wrote that the novel had a "decisive influence on the stereotypical notion of bohemia" and that it "affected the habits of American youth, particularly young women, who derived from it the courage to call themselves artists and 'bachelor girls,' to smoke cigarettes and drink Chianti."

The novel has been adapted to the stage several times; one of these featured the lead actress wearing a distinctive short-brimmed hat with a sharp snap to the back of the brim. The hat became known as the trilby and went on to become a popular men's clothing item in the United Kingdom throughout various parts of the 20th century, before enjoying a revival as a unisex clothing item in the United States in the 2000s.

The novel has been highly criticized for antisemitism in its portrayal of the character Svengali.

Plot summary

Trilby is 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 higher; and she would declare they were both exactly the same."

Svengali hypnotises her and transforms her into a 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 by 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 baffled and though she can remember living and travelling with Svengali, she cannot remember anything of her singing career. Suddenly an audience member yells:

"Oh, ye're Henglish, har yer? Why don't yer sing as yer ought to sing — yer've got voice enough, any'ow! Why don't yer sing in tune?" she cries "I didn't want to sing at all — I only sang because I was asked to sing — that gentleman asked — that French gentleman with the white waistcoat! I won't sing another note!"

She is stricken with a nervous affliction and dies tragically some weeks later. Little Billee and his pure love soon follow.

Inspiration

It was popularly believed that the hypnotic control Svengali has over Trilby was modeled after the relationship between the French harpist and composer Nicolas-Charles Bochsa and the English operatic soprano Anna Bishop. Anna Bishop had left her husband Henry Bishop (later Sir Henry), the composer of "Home! Sweet Home!", for Bochsa. Bishop was 23 years her senior, while Bochsa was 20 years older than Anna. Bochsa became her manager as well as her lover. She sang in many opera houses on their extensive travels throughout Europe (particularly in Naples, Italy), North America and Sydney, Australia, where Bochsa died suddenly in 1856 and is buried. Sir Henry Bishop had died the previous year. Anna Bishop later remarried, continued travelling and singing professionally into her 70s, and died in New York City.

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 for libel unless the character was removed and Du Maurier apologized. The writing was revised and no public apology was made.

The character of Little Billee is a reference to an eponymous ballad by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Reception

Trilby inspired Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera (1910) in part. It was also known for introducing the phrase "in the altogether" (meaning "completely unclothed") and the term "Svengali" for a man with dominating powers over a (generally female) protégée, as well as indirectly inspiring the name of the trilby hat, originally worn on stage by a character in the play based on the novel.

Criticism

Trilby has generated much obloquy for its depiction of Svengali, which many find to be antisemitic. Most notably, George Orwell wrote that novel is overtly antisemitic. Specifically, Orwell believes that du Maurier attributes all of Svengali's villainous and rapacious qualities to his Judaism. While du Maurier does introduce another Jew into the work who possesses more virtuous qualities, he is careful to note that this is due to his Sephardic ancestry. Furthermore, du Maurier seems to believe that possessing Jewish blood gives one an advantage. According to Orwell, this type of antisemitism was popular in du Maurier's time.

Contents

Plot summary

Inspiration

Reception

Criticism

References