Trollope and Women as People Too
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“Trollope” in this case doesn’t refer to, uh, “women of easy virtue,” but the Victorian-era novelist of political and social comedy/dramas. I have done a long series of posts exploring how Trollope created, developed, and above all RESPECTED his women characters. He understood the primary principle of creating fictional women, which is also a prime principle of living in a world with women– “Women are people too.”
Very basic, and yet how many storywriters reduce women characters to more or less anonymous adjuncts to the men who get to have all the adventures? Trollope’s women are people with values and goals and relationships. They get to be bad or good and do bad and good things. They make mistakes and learn and grow or refuse to learn and fail… just like the men characters.
Anyway, I had fun exploring one essential theme with Trollope’s women characters– their friendships.
The blog series is resident at the author consortium Bookview Cafe, where you can also get my book Royal Renegade.
(Two interesting facts about Trollope:
- His mother Fanny Trollope was an important writer who travel-blogged or the Victorian equivalent her journeys through the still-new United States.
- Anthony Trollope was a career civil servant — he just happened also to write millions of words of fiction on the side– and invented the red pillar box mail box you can still see in the UK!)
