Books with title The Way We Live Now

Widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Trollope's prolific Victorian career, "The Way We Live Now" is the scathing satire he wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. In seeking to discuss the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no iniquitous aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various vice-related activities. The result of his efforts is an impressive array of characters, such as the old coquette Lady Carbury, her dissolute son Sir Felix, a spoiled and treacherously lovely heiress Marie, and her colossal figure of a father Augustus Melmotte, the great financier whose deceptive plots dupe countless wealthy individuals. Through the swindling, bribery, feuding, and shameless self-promotion of these characters, Trollope writes a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed that will cause readers to reflect on the morality of our own time.

Widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Trollope's prolific Victorian career, "The Way We Live Now" is the scathing satire he wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. In seeking to discuss the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no iniquitous aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various vice-related activities. The result of his efforts is an impressive array of characters, such as the old coquette Lady Carbury, her dissolute son Sir Felix, a spoiled and treacherously lovely heiress Marie, and her colossal figure of a father Augustus Melmotte, the great financier whose deceptive plots dupe countless wealthy individuals. Through the swindling, bribery, feuding, and shameless self-promotion of these characters, Trollope writes a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed that will cause readers to reflect on the morality of our own time.

Widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Trollope's prolific Victorian career, "The Way We Live Now" is the scathing satire he wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. In seeking to discuss the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no iniquitous aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various vice-related activities. The result of his efforts is an impressive array of characters, such as the old coquette Lady Carbury, her dissolute son Sir Felix, a spoiled and treacherously lovely heiress Marie, and her colossal figure of a father Augustus Melmotte, the great financier whose deceptive plots dupe countless wealthy individuals. Through the swindling, bribery, feuding, and shameless self-promotion of these characters, Trollope writes a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed that will cause readers to reflect on the morality of our own time.

Inspired by the financial scandals of its era, The Way We Live Now is a portrait of a society corrupted by greed that continues to resonate with modern readers. Taking place in 1870s Victorian London, the characters are comprised of a motley cast of financiers, investors, and determined social-climbers.Despite rumors of an unsavory past, Augustus Melmotte is so vastly wealthy that the London society receives him with open arms. In addition to furthering his schemes of railway fraud, the ruthless financier's entry into society launches his daughter into the matrimonial market. Her preferred suitor, Sir Felix Carbury, is a penniless wastrel whose mother aspires to literary and financial success not so much by writing good books but by using her feminine charms to get ahead. A host of other bounders and rogues populate the pages of this tale, which begins as a satire and concludes as a delicious social comedy. Rejected by critics upon its 1875 publication, The Way We Live Now is recognized today as Anthony Trollope's masterpiece.

The Way We Live Now is a complex and compulsive tale that traces the career of Augustus Melmotte, a strange and mysterious financier who bursts into London society like a guided missile.In setting up a dubious scheme based on speculative money and stock market gambles, Melmotte manages to lure in several members of the English aristocracy, for whom money is the summum bonum. The world is at his feet--until the corruption catches up with him.Considered one of Trollope's greatest works, The Way We Live Now leaves the listener questioning whether much has changed in the last century, or if this, after all, is the way we live now.

'Trollope did not write for posterity,' observed Henry James. 'He wrote for the day, the moment; but these are just the writers whom posterity is apt to put into its pocket.' Considered by contemporary critics to be Trollope's greatest novel, The Way We Live Now is a satire of the literary world of London in the 1870s and a bold indictment of the new power of speculative finance in English life. 'I was instigated by what I conceived to be the commercial profligacy of the age,' Trollope said. His story concerns Augustus Melmotte, a French swindler and scoundrel, and his daughter, to whom Felix Carbury, adored son of the authoress Lady Carbury, is induced to propose marriage for the sake of securing a fortune. Trollope knew well the difficulties of dealing with editors, publishers, reviewers, and the public; his portrait of Lady Carbury, impetuous, unprincipled, and unswervingly devoted to her own self-promotion, is one of his finest satirical achievements. His picture of late-nineteenth-century England is a portrait of a society on the verge of moral bankruptcy. In The Way We Live Now Trollope combines his talents as a portraitist and his skills as a storyteller to give us life as it was lived more than a hundred years ago.

The Way We Live Now is the story of foreign-born financier Augustus Melmotte, a man with a mysterious past who sets the rumour mill on fire upon his arrival in London with his family. Using nothing but his charm, Melmotte convinces several associates to invest in his company. But Melmotte’s ascent up the social ladder is blocked by Paul Montague, a young engineer who questions his intentions.HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

'Love is like any other luxury. You have no right to it unless you can afford it.'It is impossible to be sure who Melmotte is, let alone what exactly he has done. He is, seemingly, a gentleman, and a great financier, who penetrates to the heart of the state, reaching even inside the Houses of Parliament. He draws the English establishment into his circle, including Lady Carbury, a 43 year-old coquette and her son Felix, who is persuaded to invest in a notional railway business. Huge sums of money are at stake, as well as romantic happiness.The Way We Live Now is usually thought Trollope's major work of satire but is better described as his most substantial exploration of a form of crime fiction, where the crimes are both literal and moral. It is a text preoccupied by detection and the unmasking of swindlers. As such it is a narrative of exceptional tension: a novel of rumor, gossip, and misjudgment, where every second counts. For many of Trollope's characters, calamity and exposure are just around the corner.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Vice compounds vice in this fascinating satire of the unscrupulous Augustus Melmotte and his schemes to ensnare dissolute nobility. In this world of bribes, vendettas, and swindling, in which heiresses are gambled and won, Trollope's characters embody all the vices: Lady Carbury is "false from head to foot"; her son Felix has "the instincts of a horse, not approaching the higher sympathies of a dog"; and Melmotte—the colossal figure who dominates the novel—is a "horrid, big, rich scoundrel…a bloated swindler…a vile city ruffian."This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

Augustus Melmotte is a foreign-born financier with a mysterious past. When he moves his business and his family to London, the city's upper crust begins buzzing with rumors about him, and a host of characters ultimately find their lives changed because of him. He sets out to woo rich and powerful investors by hosting a lavish party. Whilst Melmotte is carrying out his financial shenanigans, Paul Montague is the one person who is a thorn in his side.

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW (1875) by Anthony Trollope is possibly his most influential novel, a satire, and a biting exposé of the financially interconnected British Victorian society. The arrival to London of the mysterious Augustus Melmotte who offers brilliant opportunities for financial investments affects a varied cast of personages, and upturns their lives, loves, and relationships.