Svengali Svengali Svengali:Unethical Stage Hypnosis in Literature and Life The hypnotist can be erotically fascinated by the sight of his inanimate, plastic, unresisting subject. In this, hypnotists share a dream world with undertakers. - Robert Marks, p. 119 An Englishman with a French name, George Du Maurier (1834-1896), wrote his last and most famous novel, Trilby, about hypnocontrol. It was the first “best seller.” Du Maurier got the idea for his tale of Svengali’s cruel domination of his hapless hypnotic subject from viewing a demonstration of a subject’s complete, amnesic dissociation in a hypnotist’s office. In the late 19th century, both natural split personalities and artificial personality splitting (by suggested amnesia under hypnosis) were hot new items in psychological research.1 The young female whose hypnotic submission was demonstrated to Du Maurier was an unknowing, chronic, hypnotic subject, an artificially-split personality. The novelist watched her be hypnotized, made to obey commands under trance, then awakened.

He saw her obedience to posthypnotic commands and her rationalization of them as being freely willed choices. He observed her total unawareness of the previous trance state. He realized the tragic potential for abuse of such a long-term, unknowing, hypnotic subject. Svengali and Trilby The novel, Trilby, published in 1894, contained some minor technical errors. Nevertheless, it introduced the basic, sordid facts of hypnotic exploitation to a mass readership. By the vehicle of fiction, it presented important facts about abusive hypnosis. DuMaurier’s tale of poor Trilby stimulated a much needed public awareness, and discussion, of unethical hypnosis. What Svengali did to Trilby has never quite been forgotten, despite ceaseless efforts by the hypnosis lobby to discredit the basic facts. In the novel, Svengali, a middle-aged, unsuccessful musician, captured Trilby by a disguised induction, then hypno-trained her into a split personality (and a brilliant singer). Thereafter, she kept her puppet master, Svengali, living in luxury, supported by her concert performances. She always sang in an amnesic trance.

He began Trilby’s conditioning by persuading her to agree to a Mesmer-style induction by passes: Svengali told her to sit down on the divan, and sat opposite to her, and bade her look him well in the white of the eyes. “Recartez-moi pien tans le planc tes yeaux.” Then he made little passes and counterpasses on her forehead and temples and down her cheek and neck. Soon her eyes closed and her face grew placid. (Du Maurier, p. 69) In the novel, as with real-life subjects, Trilby did not understand how a seemingly harmless first submission to hypnosis can develop into a terrible longterm mind slavery. Svengali gradually transformed her from a proud, independent person into an obedient hypno-tool. Now she lived a cruel, secret life in addition to the “real” life that she consciously lived.

Conceited, derisive, and malicious, he alternately bullies and fawns in a harsh, croaking voice...Though Trilby is repelled at first by his greasy, dirty appearance and regards him as a spidery demon or incubus, she becomes completely his creature under his hypnosis....Gecko...[is] a young fiddler, small, swarthy, shabby, brown-eyed, and pock-marked; a nail-biter. Though he loves Trilby he helps Svengali train her...so that Svengali may exploit her.(Magill, Masterplots, p. 1158) At the story’s end, foul Svengali dies. Trilby dies a few hours after. (DuMaurier’s presumption that a mind-controlled victim cannot survive without the puppet master is false.) The novel concludes with Gecko, Svengali’s assistant, trying to explain to Trilby’s grieving former friends what happened to her--and how a hypnotic split personality functions: Gecko sat and smoked and pondered for a while, and looked from one to the other.

Then he pulled himself together with an effort, so to speak, and said, “Monsieur, she never went mad—not for one moment!...She had forgotten—voila tout!” “But hang it all, my friend, one doesn’t forget such a...” “...I will tell you a secret. There were two Trilbys. There was the Trilby you knew...But all at once—pr-r-r-out! presto! augenblick!...with one wave of his hand over her—with one look of his eye—with a word—Svengali could turn her into the other Trilby, his Trilby, and make her do whatever he liked...you might have run a red-hot needle into her and she would not have felt it...

“He had but to say ‘Dors!’ and she suddenly became an unconscious Trilby of marble, who could...think his thoughts and wish his wishes—and love him at his bidding with a strange unreal factitious love...When Svengali’s Trilby was singing—or seemed to you as if she were singing—our Trilby was fast asleep...in fact, our Trilby was dead...and then, suddenly, our Trilby woke up and wondered what it was all about...” (Du Maurier, pp. 456-459) Trilby is now back in print (Everyman, 1994), an old fable that refuses to be forgotten. Svengali, the name that DuMaurier gave to Trilby’s evil hypnotist, is the author’s best known character. The mere word is resonant with sinister implications.

A Svengali is “one who attempts, usually with evil intentions, to persuade or force another to do his bidding.” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary) Exploitation of Female Stage Mediums The publication of DuMaurier’s novel wound up a century of European hypno-abuse of genetically susceptible persons, especially young women. Trilby spotlighted the specific problem of hypnotic exploitation of women (and men) in the theater world. The use of somnambulist (highly-conditioned) mediums on stage, or in seances serving smaller audiences, was common in that era. The medium tended to be young, female, and attractive. She was a highly susceptible hypnotic subject, of course—and not protected by strong and prosperous family connections. The use of hypnotized women on stage for entertainment emerged from eighteenth century scientific demonstrations of trance and medical hypnosis. Scientific researchers regarded their subjects as means to an end, as useful objects whom they manipulated like laboratory rats to prove, or disprove, their competing hypotheses. Medical hypnotists who were followers of Charcot viewed their patients being treated by hypnosis as disgusting neurotics. Their mechanistic mind manipulations respected only the knowledge and will of the operator.

Unethical hypnotists viewed subjects as possessions destined by inborn genetic susceptibility to be ruled by the power of any master who made the effort to acquire and manipulate them. Most hypnotists scorned their subjects for the very quality they worked hardest to develop in them: mindless obedience. Du Maurier may also have read the autobiography of Charles Lafontaine before he wrote Trilby. Lafontaine failed as an actor, but then became wealthy as a stage hypnotist. The secret of his success on stage was not his own talent, but that of his female hypnotic subject. Lafontaine ...taught her a theatrical role that she then performed beautifully on the stage before a large audience and of which she could remember nothing in her waking state. (Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious, p. 157) He might have read Auguste Lassaigne’s autobiography. Lassaigne was French, born in 1819. He was just a touring solo juggler the day he watched an 18-year-old girl named Prudence receive treatment from a magnetizer. Observing her somnambulist behavior, he became fascinated with the possibilities of hypnosis.

Perhaps, he also suddenly envisioned a more prosperous professional future for himself. He courted and married Prudence. Thereafter, she traveled with Auguste, and his act became a stage show in which he hypnotized her. Offstage, Auguste used hypnotic suggestions to sexually arouse Prudence, which produced “heavenly voluptuousness.” His control, however, was imperfect; an angry Prudence could resist induction! (Ibid.) In 1894, the same year that Trilby was published, a legal case involving a disreputable psychic healer, Ceslav Lubicz-Czynski, was reported. He had a chronically abused medium: He made use above all of a method which nowadays is hardly ever applied and which was called “Psychic Transfer.” He hypnotized a female employee who served him as a medium (and at the same time as a lover) and suggested to the patient sitting nearby that his pains and sufferings would be transferred to the medium. (Hammerschlag, p. 35) In deep trance, the young woman was caused to experience other people’s ailments, daily acquiring her mental version of their pains and suffering. How cruel!

The sexual exploitation was also objectionable, for Czynski was at that time pursuing a rich aristocratic client, the Baroness Hedwig von Zedlitz, with the hope of marriage to her. He conducted his “courtship” during his hypnotic services to her. That is what caused the legal case (not his psychological and sexual abuse of the medium), for the Baroness said “Yes” under hypnosis--and her relatives reported the matter to the police. “Voodoo Death” on Stage In 1894, another hypnotist, Franz Neukomm, also made European news. Ella first was hypnotized by two doctors who were hired by a “relative” to treat her for a “nervous ailment.” Their power of suggestion temporarily suppressed the symptoms, but then she got even worse. Neukomm happened to be passing through, and her relative took Ella to be mesmerized by him. He also achieved an effective cure of her problem. Neukomm then saw opportunity knocking. He convinced Ella’s relative that the somnambulist girl might again relapse in the absence of his hypnotic influence and therefore should remain in his care. He would look after her without charge.

Her relative then abandoned Ella to Neukomm. Thereafter, she traveled with the hypnotist as his medium. Neukomm was “effective,” to say the least. One day, he suggested to Ella that a cold needle, which he placed on her hand, was red-hot. Its touch then produced a real burn on her hand (a known somnambulist phenomenon). During each show, Neukomm invited an ailing volunteer from the audience up on stage. Then he would hypnotize Ella and give her a suggestion to place herself in the mind of the patient and provide information about his or her state of health. The night that Ella died, Neukomm, to increase the audience’s sense of drama, had changed his hypnotic instructions in a small, but significant way. He told Ella, “Your soul will leave your body in order to enter that of the patient.” Ella showed an uncharacteristic, strong resistance to that hypnotic suggestion. She tried to deny it. Imperious master Neukomm deepened her trance,and firmly repeated the “leave your body” command. Once more, she resisted. He further deepened the trance and repeated the command again. Ella Salamon died.

The postmortem stated that heart failure, caused by Neukomm’s hypnotic suggestion, was the probable cause of her death. Neukomm was charged with manslaughter and found guilty. (Schrenck-Notzing, 1902) Ella’s death was similar to what anthropologists call “voodoo” death, death by suggestion. H ypnotic Subject Killed on Stage In another case of that era, a stage hypnotist named Flint was performing in Switzerland, when his program went terribly wrong: One of his acts was to lead on to the stage his wife, who was his partner in the show, and bring her to a state of rigidity. He would then place a heavy piece of rock on her stomach and invite volunteers from the audience to come and smash the rock with a hammer. One night a member of the audience misjudged his blow with the hammer and, instead of smashing the rock, he hit the performer’s wife and caused internal injuries from which she died shortly afterwards. (Magonet, pp.

19-20) Abusive Hypnosis in Literature When novelists write about unethical hypnosis, they deal with issues of dominance versus submission, the predator’s technical expertise versus the subject’s ignorance, and betrayal versus trustworthiness. In storyland, however, the mind-controlling villain never enjoys a final victory. In the late 1800s, the subject of hypnosis dominated in French nonfiction publishing. Some years, every book published in France was about hypnosis. French fiction writers also wrote about it. Alexander Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, wrote six novels which involved mesmerism, “The Marie Antoinette Series.” De Maupassant’s last short story, “Le Horla,” featured a man who realizes he is a victim of predatory hypnosis. E.T.A. Hoffman was another European writer who was fascinated by hypnosis. His fiction is saturated with every aspect of it. He viewed deep trance as true penetration of the hypnotist’s mind into the subject’s mind. Hoffman said that hypnotism ...can be either good or evil.

The evil magnetizer is a kind of moral vampire who destroys his subject...Therefore, the magnetic relationship can be either good (friendly, fatherly), or evil (demoniacal). (quoted in Ellenberger, p. 160) Thomas Mann’s 1931 story, “Mario and the Magician,” sees hypnotism as an overthrowing of a person’s normal duality and balance of surrender and control tendencies: ...the capacity for self-surrender,...for becoming a tool, for the most...utter self-abnegation, was but the reverse side of that other power to will and to command. Commanding and obeying formed together one single principle, one indissoluble unity. Mann ended that story by letting the hypnotist’s insulted subject hit back. Dr. George Estabrooks observed a similar incident in real life. He... ...attended a stage exhibition and arrived late. He was horrified to see a respectable acquaintance stripped to his underwear with a broom handle for a flute gamboling around the stage under the delusion that he was a Greek faun. Highly gratified also to see the faun knock the hypnotist flat the moment the trance was removed.

(Young, in LeCron, p. 385) Trilby: A Novel: George Du Maurier: Amazon.com: Books 4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read or two... ByA customeron December 23, 2000 I have to disagree with the reviewer who commented that this novel is at best a curiosity and that it deserved to fade into obscurity. I read this in a course on 19th century novels and fell in love with du Maurier's writings and his drawings. He uses such wonderful devices to flavor the text and in many ways this satirical view of the aesthetic movement informs the period as much as Oscar Wilde's work does. That the work has some anti-Semitic sentiment it is no more worrisome than anything in Shakespeare (meaning that you must take the work as a work in a period of time). The character types are common enough and the message of the story is timeless--I'll leave the discernment of the message to the reader. Reading this was like uncovering your grandad's favorite toy in the attic and realizing it was still fun to play with today.

By CoffeeGurl HALL OF FAME on June 16, 2009 Set in bohemian Paris, Trilby is the name of the artless and innocent Scot-Irish girl who stumbles upon a group of artists who call themselves the "Three Musketeers of the Brush." The orphaned daughter of a drunken scholar, she is fluent in English and French, but speaks them in slang, has an unaffected air and thinks nothing of posing nude in front of a roomful of artists. She is the prettiest, sweetest and most wistful creature they had laid eyes upon. Little Billee is her biggest admirer. He especially loves her feet -- artists' feet, perfect feet. There is one big drawback: the girl cannot sing a single note, and this is most noticeable with Svengali, an ambitious and horrid German-Jewish musician. He notices, with great amusement, that she cannot tell one high note from another. An attraction ensues between Little Billee and Trilby, but circumstances tear them apart. At the same time, she becomes the object of Svengali's obsession.

He takes every opportunity to seduce her, but she fears him, especially after he cures her headache by way of mesmerism. So imagine everyone's surprise when, some time later, she becomes a local diva with the voice of an angel, with Svengali as her manager and mentor. What could have caused such a transformation? Why is she under Svengali's protection? The secrets behind her success are quite sinister, and so will be the outcome if she doesn't free herself from Svengali. First published in 1894, Trilby is a disturbing and tragic gothic novel centered on mind control and ruthless ambition. Pygmalion, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Phantom of the Opera sprang to mind when I read this. The writing is quite good (with an interesting second-person narrative style), the characters flawed, and the plot is both bewitching and beguiling. The relationship between Svengali and Trilby is surprisingly brief. The novel concentrates more on the backdrop of bohemian Paris and of various characters. (In fact, the first half of this book is extremely slow and boring.

I read The Other Rebecca by Maureen Freely along with this one and actually enjoyed that one more on most occasions.) Yet the Trilby-Svengali relationship is the central storyline. Very interesting. The way Svengali controls Trilby, turning her into his puppet, is what intrigues me the most about this story. Various passages might strike some as anti-Semitic, for Jews are described in a not-so-flattering light in this book. Also, the constant quotations, stanzas and dialogues in French, German and Latin detract from the storyline. After all, I couldn't understand a word of it. Other than that, I enjoyed Trilby. George du Maurier was a good writer as well as an accomplished caricaturist. He drew the characters in this book, all of the pictures are found in the Oxford World's Classics edition. He passed his writing talent on to his granddaughter, Daphne du Maurier, who wrote Julius, a novel about a sinister, ambitious and manipulative man not unlike Svengali. (But the plot in Julius is quite different.) All in all, this is a memorable Victorian classic.

Not the best I've read, but definitely worth rereading (at least the second half of the novel is worth giving a second go). Recommended if you're into late-Victorian gothics. 5.0 out of 5 stars Victorism triumphant! By John Wallace on October 9, 2000 Three British artists go to paint in the Bohemian Latin Quarter of Paris, in the 1860s. Taffy Wynn, a reserved and good-natured English giant, resigned his cavalry commission after missing, by mischance, death or glory in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Sandy, the Laird of Cockpen, is a Scottish lawyer's son. Little Billee Bagot is the youngest, slight of build, of almost childish innocence, and yet the others realise that as a painter, he may someday tower above them. The life and characters of the Latin Quarter are marvellously described, and we can only guess, nowadays, at some of the identities. Whistler the painter was much aggrieved.

The three strike up a friendship with Trilby, daughter of a deceased Irish drunkard and Scottish barmaid, who is a laundress and artists' model. She is deeply unsettled by the sinister Svengali, a Jewish pianist with hypnotic powers. The book is often accused of crude antisemitism, but "crude" seems unjust. Du Maurier claims that Little Billee has some proportion of that Jewish blood which is best diluted, but adds something to all others. Svengali's cruelest jest - they think - is to encourage Trilby to sing, saying she has the finest voice he knows. For she is tone-deaf, and the exhibition is grotesque. Billee proposes marriage, and Trilby, who loves him, is induced to flee Paris. For besides being a laundress, she sits for "the altogether", and would destroy Billee's life in respectable society. She disappears, and only many years later is she discovered, as Madame Svengali, the singer whose fame is taking Europe by storm. For Svengali spoke nothing but the truth.

She did indeed have the finest voice in Europe, which she was entirely unable to use, and that consummate but warped artist, by skill as much as hypnotism, has taught her to be the nightingale of her age. The story ends tragically, as Victorian melodramas do. But high tragedy arises when a great and noble hero comes to grief through some fatal misconception. Trilby, in her last years, is highly enough respected to have elevated even the great William Bagot, rather than dragged him down. Suppose he and his family had realised? Suppose Svengali, although partially redeemed, had been unselfish enough to tell all, and teach her in Paris? Joseph Heller wrote of a character whose girlfriends had to wait until a play was over, to know whether they were enjoying it, and then they knew at once. The literary establishment does not like sentiment, because the ordinary reader does not need any help to know if he likes it. But if you want to sample Victorian sentimentalism at its best, this is where to start.

Trilby: A Novel: George Du Maurier: 9781142233884: Amazon.com: Books 4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read or two... ByA customeron December 23, 2000 I have to disagree with the reviewer who commented that this novel is at best a curiosity and that it deserved to fade into obscurity. I read this in a course on 19th century novels and fell in love with du Maurier's writings and his drawings. He uses such wonderful devices to flavor the text and in many ways this satirical view of the aesthetic movement informs the period as much as Oscar Wilde's work does. That the work has some anti-Semitic sentiment it is no more worrisome than anything in Shakespeare (meaning that you must take the work as a work in a period of time). The character types are common enough and the message of the story is timeless--I'll leave the discernment of the message to the reader. Reading this was like uncovering your grandad's favorite toy in the attic and realizing it was still fun to play with today.

By CoffeeGurl HALL OF FAME on June 16, 2009 Set in bohemian Paris, Trilby is the name of the artless and innocent Scot-Irish girl who stumbles upon a group of artists who call themselves the "Three Musketeers of the Brush." The orphaned daughter of a drunken scholar, she is fluent in English and French, but speaks them in slang, has an unaffected air and thinks nothing of posing nude in front of a roomful of artists. She is the prettiest, sweetest and most wistful creature they had laid eyes upon. Little Billee is her biggest admirer. He especially loves her feet -- artists' feet, perfect feet. There is one big drawback: the girl cannot sing a single note, and this is most noticeable with Svengali, an ambitious and horrid German-Jewish musician. He notices, with great amusement, that she cannot tell one high note from another. An attraction ensues between Little Billee and Trilby, but circumstances tear them apart. At the same time, she becomes the object of Svengali's obsession.

He takes every opportunity to seduce her, but she fears him, especially after he cures her headache by way of mesmerism. So imagine everyone's surprise when, some time later, she becomes a local diva with the voice of an angel, with Svengali as her manager and mentor. What could have caused such a transformation? Why is she under Svengali's protection? The secrets behind her success are quite sinister, and so will be the outcome if she doesn't free herself from Svengali. First published in 1894, Trilby is a disturbing and tragic gothic novel centered on mind control and ruthless ambition. Pygmalion, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Phantom of the Opera sprang to mind when I read this. The writing is quite good (with an interesting second-person narrative style), the characters flawed, and the plot is both bewitching and beguiling. The relationship between Svengali and Trilby is surprisingly brief. The novel concentrates more on the backdrop of bohemian Paris and of various characters. (In fact, the first half of this book is extremely slow and boring.

I read The Other Rebecca by Maureen Freely along with this one and actually enjoyed that one more on most occasions.) Yet the Trilby-Svengali relationship is the central storyline. Very interesting. The way Svengali controls Trilby, turning her into his puppet, is what intrigues me the most about this story. Various passages might strike some as anti-Semitic, for Jews are described in a not-so-flattering light in this book. Also, the constant quotations, stanzas and dialogues in French, German and Latin detract from the storyline. After all, I couldn't understand a word of it. Other than that, I enjoyed Trilby. George du Maurier was a good writer as well as an accomplished caricaturist. He drew the characters in this book, all of the pictures are found in the Oxford World's Classics edition. He passed his writing talent on to his granddaughter, Daphne du Maurier, who wrote Julius, a novel about a sinister, ambitious and manipulative man not unlike Svengali. (But the plot in Julius is quite different.) All in all, this is a memorable Victorian classic.

Not the best I've read, but definitely worth rereading (at least the second half of the novel is worth giving a second go). Recommended if you're into late-Victorian gothics. 5.0 out of 5 stars Victorism triumphant! By John Wallace on October 9, 2000 Three British artists go to paint in the Bohemian Latin Quarter of Paris, in the 1860s. Taffy Wynn, a reserved and good-natured English giant, resigned his cavalry commission after missing, by mischance, death or glory in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Sandy, the Laird of Cockpen, is a Scottish lawyer's son. Little Billee Bagot is the youngest, slight of build, of almost childish innocence, and yet the others realise that as a painter, he may someday tower above them. The life and characters of the Latin Quarter are marvellously described, and we can only guess, nowadays, at some of the identities. Whistler the painter was much aggrieved.

The three strike up a friendship with Trilby, daughter of a deceased Irish drunkard and Scottish barmaid, who is a laundress and artists' model. She is deeply unsettled by the sinister Svengali, a Jewish pianist with hypnotic powers. The book is often accused of crude antisemitism, but "crude" seems unjust. Du Maurier claims that Little Billee has some proportion of that Jewish blood which is best diluted, but adds something to all others. Svengali's cruelest jest - they think - is to encourage Trilby to sing, saying she has the finest voice he knows. For she is tone-deaf, and the exhibition is grotesque. Billee proposes marriage, and Trilby, who loves him, is induced to flee Paris. For besides being a laundress, she sits for "the altogether", and would destroy Billee's life in respectable society. She disappears, and only many years later is she discovered, as Madame Svengali, the singer whose fame is taking Europe by storm. For Svengali spoke nothing but the truth.

She did indeed have the finest voice in Europe, which she was entirely unable to use, and that consummate but warped artist, by skill as much as hypnotism, has taught her to be the nightingale of her age. The story ends tragically, as Victorian melodramas do. But high tragedy arises when a great and noble hero comes to grief through some fatal misconception. Trilby, in her last years, is highly enough respected to have elevated even the great William Bagot, rather than dragged him down. Suppose he and his family had realised? Suppose Svengali, although partially redeemed, had been unselfish enough to tell all, and teach her in Paris? Joseph Heller wrote of a character whose girlfriends had to wait until a play was over, to know whether they were enjoying it, and then they knew at once. The literary establishment does not like sentiment, because the ordinary reader does not need any help to know if he likes it. But if you want to sample Victorian sentimentalism at its best, this is where to start.

Trilby; A Novel: Amazon.de: George Du Maurier: Fremdsprachige Bücher Fremdsprachige Bücher Gewöhnlich versandfertig in 1 bis 3 Monaten. Verkauf und Versand durch Amazon. Geschenkverpackung verfügbar. Menge: Um Adressen zu sehen, bitte Anmelden Bitte tragen Sie eine deutsche PLZ ein. Bitte tragen Sie eine deutsche PLZ ein. Oder Zur Rückseite klappen Zur Vorderseite klappen Hörprobe Wird gespielt... Angehalten Sie hören eine Hörprobe des Audible Hörbuch-Downloads. Trilby; A Novel (Englisch) Taschenbuch – 16. August 2009 von Finden Sie alle Bücher, Informationen zum Autor und mehr. Dieser Artikel kann in die Vereinigten Staaten geliefert werden. Siehe Details. Kunden, die diesen Artikel gekauft haben, kauften auch Seite 1 von 1 Zum Anfang Seite 1 von 1 Diese Einkaufsfunktion wird weiterhin Artikel laden.

Um aus diesem Karussell zu navigieren, benutzen Sie bitte Ihre Überschrift-Tastenkombination, um zur nächsten oder vorherigen Überschrift zu navigieren. Es wird kein Kindle Gerät benötigt. Laden Sie eine der kostenlosen Kindle Apps herunter und beginnen Sie, Kindle-Bücher auf Ihrem Smartphone, Tablet und Computer zu lesen. Apple Geben Sie Ihre Mobiltelefonnummer ein, um die kostenfreie App zu beziehen. oder Jeder kann Kindle Bücher lesen — selbst ohne ein Kindle-Gerät — mit der KOSTENFREIEN Kindle App für Smartphones, Tablets und Computer. Beginnen Sie mit dem Lesen von Trilby (English Edition) auf Ihrem Kindle in weniger als einer Minute. Sie haben keinen Kindle? Hier kaufen oder eine gratis Kindle Lese-App herunterladen. Produktinformation Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (16. August 2009) Sprache: Englisch Produktbeschreibungen Synopsis Part of the "Everyman" series.

Trilby O'Farrall, an artist's model, falls under the spell of Svengali, a German-Polish musician, who trains her voice and establishes her as a famous singer. But Svengali's power over Trilby is such that when he dies she loses her voice and position in society. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels. Buchrückseite Du Maurier's Trilby was the novel sensation of the 1890s. Du Maurier had spent a good deal of his life as a child and later as an art student in Paris; when he turned from his career in journalism and magazine illustration to novel writing he found enormous success with a novel divided as his own life had been between Paris and London. Billee, an English artist living the Bohemian life abroad, meets and falls in love with Trilby, a Parisian model. Differences in social class doom their romance, but Trilby, taught by the mysterious hypnotist Svengali to sing like "some enchanted princess" becomes a famous entertainer.

As it turns out, however, her talent and her possession of her own mind have become dependent on Svengali maintaining his spell over her. Originally serialized in Harper's Monthly in 1894, Trilby was published with 120 illustrations by the author (who was also a celebrated caricaturist for Punch). All 120 illustrations were included in the Harper and Brothers New York edition of 1894, and in a British edition published the following year in London. The first British publication in book form, however, (by Osgood & McIlvaine in 1894) did not include any of Du Maurier's illustrations, and many editions since that time have included no illustrations or reproduced only a selection of the illustrations. Particularly given that many of the illustrations are integrated into the page of text in which they appear, Trilby is ideally suited to be made available again in a facsimile reprint. In its first year of publication, the book sold over 200,000 copies, and before long it had also been adapted for the stage.

The name "Svengali" came to be applied to any hypnotist and the image of Svengali carved a lasting place in the popular imagination. Perhaps the most important expression of 1890s Bohemianism, Trilby has also attracted interest in recent years on account of its presentation of hypnosis and split personality, and for the conflicted but often anti-Semitic presentation of the mysterious Svengali. This is one of a series from Broadview Press of facsimile reprint editions--editions that provide readers with a direct sense of these works as the Victorians themselves experienced them. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels. Von lazza am 8. Juni 2000 Format: Taschenbuch Trilby is the popular 1890s novel which introduced the word "svengali" into the English language. Simply stated, Trilby is story of three male British artists living the carefree life of 1850s bohemian Paris.

Amongst their clique of artists and musicians is Trilby, a peasant girl with a heart of gold but no artist (or musical) talent, and Svengali, a talented yet sinister character. Svengali, through mysterious means, "possesses" Trilby's mind/soul and transforms her into a operatic zombie. Although a bit contrived by today's standards, this "evil man possessing young, innocent girl" theme has been repeated in such enduring pieces as Dracula (written only a couple years after Trilby) and Phantom of the Opera. Unfortunately, Trilby is not fine literature. The portrait of bohemian life is definitely viewed through rose-colored glasses, and du Maurier's anti-semitic descriptions of the Jewish Svengali is rather vulgar (by today's standards). Overall Trilby is a curiousity piece which probably won't appeal today's readers. It's decline into obscurity is justified. 4 Personen fanden diese Informationen hilfreich. War diese Rezension für Sie hilfreich? Ja Nein Feedback senden... Vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback. Wir konnten Ihre Stimmabgabe leider nicht speichern.

Bitte erneut versuchen Von Sepplhofen am 22. Januar 2013 Format: Kindle Edition Verifizierter Kauf ich habe es nach langem ringen aufgegeben, es kommt nicht in gang - vielleicht muss der leser mehr geduld haben... Kommentar War diese Rezension für Sie hilfreich? Ja Nein Feedback senden... Vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback. Wir konnten Ihre Stimmabgabe leider nicht speichern. Bitte erneut versuchen 5.0 von 5 Sternen The Enchantment of Paris 8. Juni 2012 Von Alfredo Torres - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com Format: Taschenbuch Verifizierter Kauf It may not be possible to find a more cultured and pleasant novel than this. Victorians were full of admiration for French language and culture, even as they abhorred the French for their foreigness, and this novel capitalizes on that hate/love relationship. The novel depicts the life of bohemian artists in mid-nineteenth century Paris, something which I imagine must have been incredibly attractive to victorians.

It was the life that a lot of people wish they'd had at a time when most people had to settle for drudge work in factories. It is a life a lot of people wish they could have today, when you consider all the romantic comedies produced by the film industry in recent years that are set in Paris, and depict a similar lifestyle. The author has a sense for atmosphere that is difficult to find a match for. The only author I can compare him to in this regard would be Elizabeth Bowen, with that sense for evoking setting that is almost cinematic. The cinematic settings alone place this novel ahead of its time when you consider that it was written when films did not yet exist. In fact, reading this novel is a little like taking a holiday to a Paris that no longer exists because, the Paris of today is a very different city from the Paris of the 1850's. I have never been to Paris myself, but after reading this book I had a feeling like I knew something about it: that I had gained a perspective on that city that is only available, perhaps, to students of literature and to readers of this great novel.

When I do go to Paris someday, I will be looking to go on the "Trilby" tour. But I think that, rather than go into the many literary merits of this book, it's main achievement is that it just evokes the enchantment of Paris like no other novel before or since. And I think that is high praise and enough reason for me to recommend this book to you, because Paris is a magical city. 3.0 von 5 Sternen The author talks to you directly at times and the French seem to think that true romance means death rather than living together 17. November 2015 Von Jerry Gribble - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com Format: Kindle Edition Verifizierter Kauf It is Victorian and French, so it is a bit slow at times. The author talks to you directly at times and the French seem to think that true romance means death rather than living together happily ever after. The book gives us two new words for the English language Svengali and Trilby. Svengali the diabolically controlling mentor and the short brimmed hat called a Trilby. George is Daphney's grandfather.

I think it owes much of its popularity to its depicting Paris life in the 1860's much as Hemingway did in "A Movable Feast" for the 1920's. 5.0 von 5 Sternen Simply outstanding. Suggest it to everyone I meet. 20. Januar 2014 Von T. Walller - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com Format: Kindle Edition Verifizierter Kauf Unforgettable characters. Perhaps my new all time favorite edging out titles by Thomas Hardy. Found it when I googled "Svengali" which I did because of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine mispronounces "Sven jolly" and also a quote of Ginger Rodgers in speaking of Fred Astaire where she is reported to say, "He was not my Svengali, I was my own person" (TCM geeks will be familiar with this).Before reading the book I was under the impression Svengali was some eastern mystic that was around in the times of Gandhi. Admittedly stupid, but not far from explanations I have gotten from others. 3.0 von 5 Sternen an interesting story 10.

Mai 2013 Von ej - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com Format: Kindle Edition Verifizierter Kauf it is a quite interesting story but truth to be told if it weren't for my literature I wouldn't have read . The writer used french a lot in the story which is quite annoying because since I don't french .Moreover , the story is so detailed that sometimes I lost track of what it is going on . Not to mention , that story is called Trilby yet we don't hear a lot about her .Last but not least , if you are a looking for a happy ending then it isn't for you 4.0 von 5 Sternen The book is good, but old fashioned 26. Oktober 2016 Von Sandra Braude - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com Format: Kindle Edition Verifizierter Kauf The book is good, but old fashioned. It was slow reading. I'm glad that I read it, but would not recommend it for general reading. Trilby Trilby Bibliography Another work that contributed to the romanticizing of the artistic lifestyle was George du Maurier's Trilby, published serially in Harper's Monthly in 1894.

The novel's hero, Little Billee, is an artist who gains fame and fortune from his paintings; its heroine is a grisette, his true love, who models for him. Du Maurier, a frequent contributor to Punch and other satirical journals and grandfather of the novelist Daphne du Maurier, had been in Paris himself as a young man in the 1850s. In spite of this personal experience, however, Trilby is based on little historical fact. Trilby, hypnotized by Svengali. Svengali's exaggerated features were typical of anti-Semitic portrayals of Jews at the turn of the century. This engraving was done by Du Maurier himself for the first edition of the novel in 1894. The novel is about a studio of three artists from England and Scotland, the Laird, Taffy, and Little Billee; the grisette and model Trilby; and a Jewish hypnotist named Svengali who teaches Trilby to sing and uses her voice for his own purposes. The first half of the novel takes place in Paris.

Trilby meets and falls in love with Little Billee, but, like Fantine in Les Miserables , cannot stay with him because he is of a higher social class. Later, Billee becomes a famous artist in London, then returns to France after a failed love affair and re-meets his two companions. One evening at the theater they see the new singer that they have heard so much about, "La Svengali." To their surprise, it is Trilby, who has never sung in tune before - but now she sings like "a woman archangel ... or some enchanted princess out of a fairy tale" (203). Svengali, the strange suspicious musician the group had feared years ago in Paris, is the conductor. Mystified, the group sees her again in London. However, as he stands in the box overlooking his protegee, Svengali dies of a heart attack and his spell over her suddenly breaks - she can no longer sing in tune. Little Billee takes her into his chambers where she relates her story, saying that she remembers nothing of her singing career. However, by this point she is very weak, near death.

As she is writing her will, she sees a portrait of Svengali among her possessions. Upon seeing it she goes into her trance, singing Chopin's Impromptu in A flat as she had on the stage and dying with his name on her lips. Many years later Svengali's assistant, Gecko, tells Taffy that there were "two Trilbys," the one they knew, an "angel of paradise" (Du Maurer 287) and a "singing machine" when under the spell of Svengali (288). "Du Maurier's bohemian Paris is as much an invention as a reality, and as much a projection of the 1890s as a recollection of the 1850s," writes critic Ellen Showalter (xiii). Many of the details are far from historically accurate: du Maurier has his artists reading Zola and Maupassant before those authors published any works (Showalter xiii). The novel's importance as a historical document, then, is based more in the feelings of interdependent, artistic Bohemia than in any of its specific incidents or details. Upon publication, the novel caused a sensation in Britain and America.

In its first year of publication, the book sold 200,000 copies in America (Showalter ix). "Svengali" became a usual name for any hypnotist; the book was turned into a popular play, and one town in Florida named its streets after the characters (Showalter x). It sparked a resurgence of interest in Bohemian life, as had not been seen since Murger. Years after Paris ceased to be the center of Bohemian life, the culture of the artists still attracted attention.

Question: Svengali is the hypnotic musician in which George du Maurier novel?
Answer: Trilby