The way we live now

Paperback, 766 pages

English language

Published Nov. 21, 1995 by Wordsworth Editions.

ISBN:
978-1-85326-255-5
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
35240069

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (2 reviews)

From a review of the Anthony Trollope canon in The Economist (2020/04/08 edition): “The Way We Live Now” (1875) is as much a portrait of the last few decades as it is of the high Victorian age, and every bit as addictive as HBO’s hit series “Succession”. The novel’s anti-hero, Augustus Melmotte, is one of the great portraits of the businessman as ogre—a “horrid, big, rich scoundrel”, “a bloated swindler” and “vile city ruffian” who bears an uncanny resemblance to the late Robert Maxwell (and to living figures who had best not be named for legal reasons). Despite his foreign birth and mysterious past, Melmotte forces his way into British society by playing on the greed of bigwigs who despise him yet compete for his favours. He buys his way into the House of Commons; he floats a railway company that is ostensibly designed to build a line between Mexico …

40 editions

Subjects

  • Capitalists and financiers -- England -- London -- Fiction
  • Commercial crimes -- England -- London -- Fiction
  • England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
  • London (England) -- Fiction