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Trollope Anthony
Anthony Trollope (1815 -1882) was an English novelist who wrote forty-seven novels and a wealth of other material, both fiction and non-fiction. Enormously popular during his lifetime, his reputation has fluctuated since, partly because in his posthumous autobiography he confessed quite openly to writing for money, which offended many critics. ‘The Way We Live Now’ is probably his most popular novel now.
Tolstoy Leo
Leo Tolstoy (1828 -1910) is one of the major figures in world literature, and ‘War and Peace’ is in contention to be considered the greatest novel ever written. But this is only one of his memorable works: ‘Anna Karenina’ certainly equals it in popularity, and his shorter works, such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ are considered excellent.
Thackeray William Makepeace
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863) was an English writer. His finest work, ‘Vanity Fair’, brought him fame, and comparisons with Dickens. The novel has retained its perennial appeal, and is widely considered to be one of the finest written during the nineteenth century.
Swift Jonathan
Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) was born and educated in Ireland, but moved to England in his early twenties, and became an ordained priest. In ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, he created a book that has been one of the most consistently popular books written in the eighteenth century, and probably the finest prose satire in the English language.
Stowe Harriet Beecher
Although many books have been influential on their times, Abraham Lincoln is said to have suggested that ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ caused the American civil war. When Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote the book, she could not have envisaged its success – sales of the book in the nineteenth century were second only to the bible, and she became a central figure in the fight against slavery.
Stoker Bram
It has been said of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, that it “not only set the standard for subsequent novels in the horror-mystery genre but also helped establish the vampire as one of the most recognizable figures in the popular arts.” Stoker (1847-1912) wrote many other works of some merit, but achieved lasting fame through his iconic invention.
Stevenson Robert Louis
One of the recurring themes in the works of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 -1894) is the mixture of good and evil in mankind, and the impossibility of separating the two. His two most enduring books, ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ illustrate this point, and the depth of his characterisation was very influential on later writers.
Sterne Laurence
Laurence Stern (1713 -1768) was an author whose work divided opinion during his lifetime and has continued to do so ever since. His most notable work, ‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy’ was a ground-breaking novel which experimented with new forms of narration, parodied other authors and included some bawdy humour for good measure. Dismissed as a novelty by some critics, his book has been cited as an influence on Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and many others.
Shelley Mary
By the time of her death, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was remembered for two things: having been the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and for writing ‘Frankenstein’. Frankenstein’s, creation became an iconic figure in literature and film, but in more recent years Mary Shelley’s other works, such as the early science fiction work, ‘The Last Man’ and the disturbing ‘Mathilda’ have come to be widely appreciated.