Svengali's Web: The Alien Enchanter in Modern Culture
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.92 (730 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0300082045 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. Pick is Lecturer in History, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
A Window and A Mirror Robert Morris Decades ago while earning a graduate degree in comparative literature, I happened to come upon a badly-written novel authored by George Du Maurier. When I later asked my professor about it, he explained that Trilby was in fact a bestseller after its publication (in 1
Recommended for literature collections.-Gene Shaw, NYPL Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Pick (history, Univ. It was a great success on both sides of the Atlantic and served as the basis of many plays and films. of London; War Machine: The Rationalisation of Slaughter in the Modern Age) has written a fascinating cultural critique of George du Maurier's novel Trilby (1893-94). . This story of a singer and her sinister manager, Svengali, contains many examples of British
Svengali, the malevolent hypnotist in Trilby, a sensationally successful novel published by George du Maurier in 1894, became such a well-known character in the culture of the period that his name entered the dictionary as one who exerts a malign persuasiveness on another. Pick not only discusses the work of mesmerists, hypnotists, and critics of entrancement but also relates tales of surrogate passion and psychological foreboding that feature opera singer Jenny Lind, composer Richard Wagner, politician Benjamin Disreali, novelist Henry James and others. This book explores the origins and impact of Svengali and his helplessly mesmerised female victim Trilby in an age already rife with discussions of race, influence, and the unconscious mind. Daniel Pick points out that Svengali was a Jew as well as a dangerous hypnotist; his depiction struck a chord not only with pervasive nineteenth-century forebodings about irrational interpersonal forces and psychic contacts but also with prevalent anti-Semitic assumptions. The book identifies and il. He shows how Svengali became the quintessential dark hypnotist of the fin de sihcle, whose image was recycled in pictures, drama, verse, and films