Newsweek recently devoted a good portion of its content to “What to Read Now. And Why.” http://www.newsweek.com/id/204300 . It’s a fun read, but most interestingly for me was the editors’ choice for number one: The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope. This is how Newsweek summarizes the tale: “The title says it all. Trollope’s satire of financial (and moral) crisis in Victorian England even has a Madoff-before-Madoff, a tragic swindler named Augustus Melmotte.”
Personally, I’ve always regarded the book as a fabulous romance, of course, and love it. I was SO HAPPY that my beloved Anthony’s book was chose as Number One.
On the Anthony Trollope note, and still adventuring in Twitter-land, I discovered a terrific new site this week: http://meredithsuewillis.com/writingexercises.html#current. Meredith Sue Willis offers a writing practice that I’ve given my students before, but she articulates it much better than I have. Here it is:
“Try a description of a real person or a character using the pattern Anthony Trollope used to use in his character sketches….Begin by describing something positive, then undercut it with a negative detail– or a negative interpretation of the positive one. Perhaps the flowery perfume masks bad teeth and a nasty attitude…
Then, do the same thing but opposite: describe someone who is, on the surface, not very attractive, but as the description goes on, lots of good characteristics are revealed: a kindly smile, delicious treats in the pocket of the old fashioned apron, etc.”