Trilbyana: The Rise and Progress of a Popular NovelGilder, Joseph Benson
History
Trilbyana: The Rise and Progress of a Popular Novel
Gilder, Joseph Benson
Du Maurier, George, 1834-1896. Trilby
"TRILBY'S" WIDE POPULARITY--in the sense that many people who are not,
ordinarily, novel-readers take a lively interest in it--is evidenced by
many indications, not the least significant being the concerts made up
from the music mentioned in the novel. One such was given in San
Francisco last December, under the management of the ladies of the
Mercantile Library Auxiliary and for the benefit of the Library's
unfortunately slender exchequer. According to _The Argonaut_, a very
interesting program was presented, including Schubert's "Rosamonde,"
Adam's "Cantique de Noël," Chopin's Impromptu in A flat, "Bonjour
Suzon," "Le Capitaine Roquefinette" and the much-discussed "Ben Bolt."
* * * * *
"TRILBY" REPRESENTATIONS have broken out in all sorts of strange places.
At the Eden Musée, New York, Miss Ganthony has been restrained from
impersonating du Maurier's heroine; and at "The Greatest Show on Earth,"
Miss Marie Meers, who has not been restrained, appears nightly in Trilby
costume, riding bareback (not barefoot) around the tan-bark to the
snapping of ringmaster Svengali's whip.
Miscellanea
MR. DU MAURIER and Mr. James took a walk together, one day, and the
artist unfolded to the novelist the plot of "Trilby," suggesting that he
should use it in a novel. Mr. James persuaded him to write the story
himself. He did so; and what has been the result? Think of the time and
skill, the money and material that have been employed in putting the
thing in type, preparing its illustrations, printing it as a serial and
reprinting it in book-form; in dramatizing it, burlesquing it in books
and on the stage, in adapting its songs and illustrations for
reproduction on lecture-platforms and in drawing-rooms, and in
translating and publishing Nodier's tale, from which the author took his
title! Its presentation has given employment, onerous or enjoyable,
honorary or remunerative, to thousands; hundreds of thousands have read
it, and hundreds of thousands seen it on the stage; and its leading
characters--Trilby, Svengali and "the three musketeers of the
brush"--have become household names and personalities. It has enriched
its author, added to the wealth of its publishers, put money in the
purses of playwright and manager and replenished the treasuries of more
than one excellent charity. Directly or indirectly, no doubt, it has
caused much more than a million dollars to change hands within the past
eighteen months. And last but not least, it is responsible for this
pamphlet, in which is chronicled the story of its rise and progress.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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