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Autobiography/Memoir

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An Autobiography

Anthony Trollope

1883

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) His autobiography, despite causing him problems with critics after his death for his attitudes to writing, is considered one of the most significant autobiographies of its period. Trollope was poor and bullied at Harrow and Winchester schools with no money & no friends; he fantasised about suicide. At 12 his mother Frances, moved to America with Trollope's three younger siblings. Her husband Thomas Trollope joined them for a short time but Anthony stayed in England throughout. His mother returned in 1831 and rapidly made a name for herself as a writer, soon earning a good income. His father's affairs, however, went from bad to worse. And in 1834, he fled to Belgium to avoid arrest for debt. The whole family moved to a house near Bruges, where they lived entirely on Frances's earnings. Anthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.

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