Ralph the Heir - Softcover

Trollope, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486236420 ISBN 13: 9780486236421

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc., 2000

Synopsis

The English critic A. O. J. Cockshut wrote of Trollope's Ralph the Heir, " … any reader who has previously subscribed to the stock idea of Trollope as a photographer and no artist, would be wise, if he wishes to be just, to consider these chapters carefully."
In Ralph the Heir, Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) again constructs a multilayered Victorian society of the kind he so precisely imagined in the Palliser novels, the Barsetshire chronicles, and The Claverings. Trollope's favorite settings and themes thrive under his characteristically broad but subtly complex treatment. This forgotten but fine novel from his later years moves from country estates to London clubs, from Parliamentary elections to foxes, hounds, and fine horses. Property, illegitimacy and inheritance create the passions through which Trollope exercises his chief concern: character study.
Ralph the Heir is a tale of decent people at the mercy of their own weaknesses. Trollope was never more ironic, rarely more perceptive, than in his portraits of Ralph Newton of London, idle wastrel and heir to a fortune; his namesake cousin, Ralph Newton of Hampshire, stained by illegitimacy; Clarissa Underwood, who trusted Ralph the heir, and the exotic orphan Mary Bonner, who preferred Ralph the bastard. Squire Newton of Newton Priory would atone for the great sin of his youth; Sir Thomas Underwood laments the vanity of his fading years. Under the misanthropic eye of Sir Thomas, each soul declares itself — and each finally reaps his portion of virtue and of vice.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This novel tells a story of crossed inheritance. One Ralph Newton, a handsome ne'er-do-well, has the expectation of the family property. His cousin (also Ralph Newton) is a wholly worthy fellow, but a bastard and may not by law inherit what his father desperately wants to bequeath him. This situation provides Trollope with the occasion for a profound analysis of moral worth and legal right. It is a novel of Trollope's maturity, featuring the darker hues and confident social criticism of his late phase together with streaks of broad comedy.

About the Author

As young adult, Trollope endured seven years of poverty in the General Post Office in London before accepting a better-paying position as postal surveyor in Banagher, Ireland in 1841. The years in Ireland formed the basis of his second career delineating clerical life in small cathedral towns.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486236420
• ISBN 13: 9780486236421
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 434