with a feeling that honesty is the best
policy; that truth prevails while falsehood fails; that a girl
will be loved as she is pure, and sweet, and unselfish; that a man
will be honoured as he is true, and honest, and brave of heart;
that things meanly done are ugly and odious, and things nobly done
beautiful and gracious. . . There are many who would laugh at the
idea of a novelist teaching either virtue or nobility,--those, for
instance, who regard the reading of novels as a sin, and those
also who think it to be simply an idle pastime. They look upon the
tellers of stories as among the tribe of those who pander to the
wicked pleasures of a wicked world. I have regarded my art from so
different a point of view that I have ever thought of myself as a
preacher of sermons, and my pulpit as one which I could make both
salutary and agreeable to my audience. I do believe that no girl
has risen from the reading of my pages less modest than she was
before, and that some may have learned from them that modesty is
a charm well worth preserving. I think that no youth has been
taught that in falseness and flashness is to be found the road to
manliness; but some may perhaps have learned from me that it is
to be found in truth and a high but gentle spirit. Such are the
lessons I have striven to teach; and I have thought that it might
best be done by representing to my readers characters like
themselves,--or to which they might liken themselves. [1]

Given Trollope's philosophy, it is reasonable to believe that the
actions of his characters should speak louder than their words. If
so, Trollope might well have been holding up a mirror to his audience
that they might examine their own prejudices. Unfortunately, we shall
never know.

[1] Anthony Trollope. _An Autobiography_. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1950.

Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.
Midland, 2003

Copyright (C) 2003 Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.
This Introduction to _Nina Balatka_ is protected by
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NINA BALATKA