Trilby

Edição Wordsworth Classics de 1995

In 1894 Trilby, the story of the beautiful artists’ model and her sinister mentor, Svengali, burst upon an astonished world. It is a tale of Bohemian Paris that is by turns evocative, funny and poignant as it describes Trilby;s rise to musical stardom under Svengali’s influence.

The story brings together a number of strands that fascinated the Victorians. It combines the almost demonic possession of a young woman with hypnotism, mesmerism and sheer animal magnetism. A year after its publication, Sir Henry Beerbohm Tree starred as Svengali in a dramatised version of the best-selling novel, and the profits from the play enabled him to build Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.

Though it is more than a century old, Trilby still has an amazing power to involve the reader in its ingenious plot. Although the world in which it is set may have passed away, the issues and emotions it describes are still very much with us.

The story of the diva Trilby O'Ferrall and her mentor, Svengali, has entered the mythology of late 19th century alongside Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. Immensely popular for years, the novel led to a hit play, a series of popular films, Trilby products from hats to ice cream, and streets in Florida named after characters in the book. The setting reflects Du Maurier's bohemian years as an art student in Paris before he went to London to make a career in journalism. A celebrated caricaturist for Punch magazine, Du Maurier's drawings for the novel formed a large part of its appeal.