Anthony Adverse (novel)

Anthony Adverse is a 1933 novel by American author Hervey Allen. It was published by Farrar & Rinehart.[2]

Anthony Adverse
Original book cover
AuthorHervey Allen
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Published1933[1]
PublisherFarrar & Rinehart
Pages1272

The novel contains three volumes: The Roots of the Tree, The Other Bronze Boy and The Lonely Twin, and each volume contains three "books", making for nine books in total.[3]

Plot

The story follows the eponymous protagonist, Anthony Adverse, through several adventures around the world. This includes slave trading in Africa, his business dealings as a plantation owner in New Orleans, and his incarceration and eventual death in Mexico.[1]

Reception

Fanny Butcher of the Chicago Daily Tribune and Peter Monro Jack of The New York Times both gave the novel glowing reviews. Butcher wrote: "It is a thriller de luxe, but it is more than a melodrama of the most intricate happenings. It is the fantastic tale of a fantastic period, and it is the highest expression of the art of the picaresque which our generation has offered."[2] Similarly, Jack wrote: "Anthony Adverse is essentially a story and a very great story, but it gathers up so much wit and wisdom by the way that Mr. Allen is revealed on every page as that rare thing nowadays, a creative humanist [...] We should not be surprised and we could not be anything but pleased if his Anthony Adverse became the best-loved book of our time."[4]

The novel was the Publishers Weekly best-selling novel in the United States for two consecutive years: 1933 and 1934.[5]

Film adaptation
Main article: Anthony Adverse

In 1936, the book received a loose movie adaptation, drawing from the first eight books.

See also

References
  1. "Anthony Adverse | novel by Allen | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  2. Butcher, Fanny (June 28, 1933). "Critic Receives 'A Great Novel' with Acclaim". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 21.
  3. Anthony Adverse table of contents
  4. Jack, Peter Monro (June 25, 1933). "A Titanic Novel of Adventure". The New York Times. p. BR1. ProQuest 100666298. Retrieved November 20, 2022 – via ProQuest.
  5. Hackett, Alice Payne and Burke, James Henry (1977). 80 Years of Bestsellers: 1895–1975. New York: R. R. Bowker Company. pp. 109–127. ISBN 0-8352-0908-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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