Book Review of Anthony Adverse

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Book Review of Anthony Adverse

U.S. poet, biographer, and novelist Hervey Allen is best known for the historical novel Anthony Adverse, which was published in 1933. Set in Europe during the Napoleonic era, the novel offers a multitude of characters and picturesque settings within a complex plot. The book’s undisguised passages about sex and its considerable length introduced a new standard for popular fiction. (1889-1949).

The Above information was gathered from fact on the internet. I thought this information would be of interest, I did not write any of the above. Also, this book is out of print, you can get copies of used on amazon and the used and collectable book stores.

Hervey Allen, what an awe-inspiring writer, I was given a gift in my early 20’s, a book called Anthony Adverse, it was a thick book plus I was working two jobs and raising my young toddles, not a great deal of time to read books. I placed it on my coffee table and one day I picked it up to read the introduction. That was “it” for me, during every second I had for spare time, I could not set this book down. In my long life, I have by no means read any book that could equal the talents of this author, Hervey Allen; I even now have this book and will never ever part with it. I think I might want to be buried with this book, and of course my dog… He was a man that encompasses more talent then any writer I have read to this day. (Except for all my hub friends)

Hervey Allen is unsurpassed and remembered as a major American novelist of the 1930s and 1940s, exclusively for his book, “Anthony Adverse,” the best selling novel of the 1930s and a starting place for a extraordinarily successful film. He was one of the most popular poets. The "lost generation" following World War I, and then as a bestselling author of historical fiction.

During the later years, this book was a mandatory read for Harvard Students to interpret upon graduation. While reading this book I was transported (Beam me down Scottie) to a time in Europe during its early stages in History. Reading this book was an encounter that I loved about this book. I remain there, in that time and in that place. Riding in the horse carriage, a private coach, the owner was a gentleman whom owned estates both in Spain and in Italy.

You could catch sight of the lavish leather royal coach, along with the insignia of his family crest. You could smell the air, hear the voices, see the surroundings. The fine facets and the interpretation of this man, he was yelling at his driver to hurry up, drive faster. The road was narrow and the coach would pounce when it would hit a large hole along this rouged terrain. A man approach from the opposite direction and was racing down the road as well, he was traveling quit fast. His horse hit the hole in the water at the same time the man in his coach had his head out the window while yelling at his driver. There ensued an augment between a handsome young man. The Gentleman yelled for his driver to stop.

The gentle yelled at the young man, “you mule’s bastard,” he roared. As the man opened the coach door, and emerge with his gold headed cane. He was a heavy man and was in much pain. The men exchanged some rather harsh words, before they continued along their journey going the opposite direction. He was still yelling at his footmen to hurry along this road, “Faster I say, faster you fool,” the road was becoming unbearable for him as it raced over the large hill, and finally he saw it, the fine estate of his friend.

There was to be a large poker game the follow day, with wealthy gentlemen like him. They finally reached the Chateau; he was a nobleman, Don Luis was so happy to remove himself from his royal velvet coach and to the end of this ten day journey. He was taken to his private chamber for his rest, the following day they would all gather to play this high ranking game.

The owner of the estate was a stubborn man; the game was going badly for him. Don Luis was winning, he was becoming aggressive and was winning a fortune, and the owner of the estate lost everything to Don Luis, his land, horses, everything. However, a surprise was waiting, the owner called his servants’ to bring his daughter into the room. Don Luis looked up and saw a tender aged girl that was more beautiful then a perfect rose. Now the deal was done. Don Luis left the estate with, “His little Madonna.”

Back on the road again, he was swollen with pride, he won the best price. She sat across from him with her eyes done. Staring at her hands on her lap, he raised his eyebrows’ in a sinister way, looking at her. He was thinking what fun he would have with her. By the end of the first day they arrived at a small village, quaint with a small inn located at the center. They ate and stayed the night; in addition an essential person was also watching them dine. The handsome young man he smashed into on the road several days before, the young beautiful Madonna, looked at him and he at her, and love was in the atmosphere.

This handsome young man observer-ed how cruel he was to the young girl, he yearned desperately to protect her. He pursued the coach, for the remainder of the trip back to Don Luis Estate. He was her unknown constant companion, lagging far enough back as to never be seen. Finally they reached the estate, Don Luis sent the girl to her room. He was extremely incensed with her, she would not permit him to touch her, he believe she would come around in due time, he would wait…he learned his mute witness, had a name, “Maria” and he married her, however he was still waiting for her to invite him to her private chambers.

Looking out her bedroom window, she saw him sitting on his horse on top of a hill in the distance; the stranger had exchanged signals with Maria on many occasions. One day she left the estate early in the morning, to see if she could locate her prince. He was there in the woods waiting for her, in shock they both looked at each other with horrified surprise, and then they both burst out into a laugh. She said, as they held on to each other, “I have wonderful good news. I will be alone in a few days, for a week.” They began to plan their time together.

Months were flying by; they would continue to meet in the forest, in their special place as often as they could. They were deeply in love and they would talk and hold each other, never wanting to let go. They talked about their future together. Until one day, her husband saw that she was growing heavy in her belly and decided to follow her in secret; he was in a dreadful mood, something rather strange was happening. He concealed himself behind a tree and observed her fly into the arms of that rude man, yes that is the same man that crashed into him on the road a long time ago.

He erupted out from behind the trees and stood in front of the two lovers, as she trembled, Denis held her tight. Don Luis, wrenched her away and shot and killed the handsome young Denis, Maria screamed and cried as he hauled her into the house. He enclosed her in her room, and order the servants bring her meals inside her room and lock the door again when they retreated. Until the night the baby boy was born.

Don Luis sat in his chair and was adding logs to his fire, it was a bitter cold winter, and the cold rain and wind was bring a chill to his bones. He stared at the fire and heard the crackle of the logs. The screams were load up stairs, and then it all went quit, finally after a long night of waiting. He slowly climbed his massive staircase, walked down the long hall, then he walked into her room, and the servants, handed him the baby, he shouted at everyone to leave the room and to retire to their quarters.

Maria was white as a sheet and bleeding, the birth had been a bad one. Don Luis wanted her to die, so he bellowed for his coachmen to get the carriage ready. He transported the baby to the carriage, he positioned the small bundle on the velvet seat next to him whilst the carriage speed them through the bitter cold rain storm to a neighboring town. There he saw the church, placing the male child in an opening, where others have left their babies, this was known as the Catholic orphanage, he then returned to his royal coach, and disappeared into the fog and rain. When he returned Maria had expired. He ordered his servants remove her and bury her in an area in the forest where the lovers always met.

Here starts the beginning of Anthony Adverse, his life started in the church for the first eighteen years of his life. In this grand novel, you follow his journey, his thoughts, feelings, adventures, and pain, from birth to death. You journey with him in his mind along a journey I promise you, you will never forget. When I finished this book, I cried and mourned for weeks. He had become a friend, a close friend; I knew him, and I knew everything about him. I lost a friend, and even today as I write this, by memory, he is in my heart. Forever the most amazing human being I have ever had the blessing to know.

I have been collected all the books of Hervey Allen, and as he tells his tall tales, his facts in history tells us everything we need to know about the world in which Anthony traveled. Strangely, his novels you can find on Amazon or at used and collectible book stores, and the price is not high-priced.

Born William Hervey Allen Jr. in Pittsburgh, PA,.He grew up very distant emotionally from his father, whom he held responsible for impoverishing the family with his dubious business ideas, and was, instead, an admirer of his paternal grandfather, who had been a pioneer and an engineer. The pioneers, the spirit behind them, and the builders of the American continent, would later become key focuses of his fiction. He received a degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1915, but in the absence of any serious career goals, he began writing poetry and also seeking out some larger cause in which he could serve a useful purpose.

Allen was only back three months when the United States entered World War I, and he was recalled, promoted to first lieutenant, and posted to France. He might well have not lived through the conflict: Allen served in combat and was gassed, succumbed to shell-shock (what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), and spent an extended period in the hospital. His writings found a wide audience among millions of readers for whom the American involvement in the European war -- The Blind Man, published in the December 1919 issue of North American Review, became his best known poem; read by millions, widely praised it heralded the perceived birth of the "lost generation" of the 1920s, dislocated from their social moorings, their youth and expectations shattered, and adrift in life. Publishing a personal remembrance of the war entitled Toward the Flame: A War Diary in 1925, and Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allen Poe the following year.

. His most widely read work, the epic novel Anthony Adverse, followed in 1933. One of the biggest bestsellers of the 1930s, its success only surpassed by Gone With the Wind and a tiny handful of other books, Anthony Adverse was a historical novel set during the Napoleonic era, telling of a man's journey across life and several continents in search of a meaning to his life.

. He had finished most of the first volume, The City and the Dawn (which included the books The Forest and the Fort, Bedford Village, and Toward the Morning), and they were completed posthumously with sections of a fourth book that rounded out the planned first half of the epic; the second half, was never finished. He kept a residence at the Glades in Dade County, Florida where he worked during the last years of his life. Allen died in his home there at the very end of 1949, just weeks after his 60th birthday.

1926

Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe. Allen's only scholarly work is a popular biography of Poe, which has been both praised for its vividness and criticized for accepting speculation about Poe's life as fact and repeating unsubstantiated gossip about the writer's excesses to bolster the book's psychological theories. After serving in World War I, Allen had taught English in Charleston, South Carolina, and wrote with DuBose Heyward the poetry collection Carolina Chansons (1922).

1933

Anthony Adverse. One of the decade's biggest sellers is this picaresque historical romance set during the Napoleonic era. The title character travels throughout Europe, Africa, and America in a series of adventures and encounters with historical figures such as Napoleon, Jean Lafitte, and Aaron Burr. A latter-day Childe Harold, Adverse is a brooding, reflective adventurer more suited to contemporary postwar tastes.

1943

The Forest and the Fort. The first book in a trilogy concerning eighteenth-century frontiersman Salathiel Albine, who is captured and raised by the Shawnee before rejoining the world of the settlers in the 1760s. Later volumes are Bedford Village (1944) and Toward the Morning (1948).

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The copyright to this article is owned by Darlene Sabella. Permission to republish this article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing. (You can, however, freely use the opening introduction and photo with a link to the article here on Red Gage and My Smashing Magazine to read the remainder of the article.)

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