Julia Markus J. Anthony Froude: The Last Undiscovered Great Victorian

J. Anthony Froude: The Last Undiscovered Great Victorian

Julia Markus

Scribner, Sep 2005, $30.00

ISBN: 0743245555

J. Anthony Froude was a student and ultimately biographer of Thomas Carlyle. Born in 1818, Froude became a Tractarian member seeking to purge Protestant elements from the Church of England, but quit when the leaders, including his brother, turned to Roman Catholicism. Instead he began to mistrust all churches, and by 1849 while at Oxford, he wrote the novel THE NEMESIS OF FAITH starring a clergyman who has reservations about his divine choosing. The book cost him his fellowship, and provided his archdeacon father further proof that his son was sinfully pathetic. He soon met Thomas Carlyle who changed Froude's life, as his Scottish mentor convinced him that biography was "the only history". Froude learned the lesson well with works on Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and eventually Carlyle, after the man died in 1881.

This is an interesting biography that targets an audience filled with those readers who want to know everything about the Victorian age in layers on layers of depth. The amount of information will send many fans into overload, but savored slowly over a couple of weeks, it will provide a powerful feel for the mid to late nineteenth century Victorian intelligentsia. The insight into Froude's early years as a mentally abused member of a deeply pious intellectual family, his odd relationships with his teacher Carlyle, and the great Victorian's spouse, are deep and profound. However, though captivating at times, the book can become overwhelming with just the facts.

Harriet Klausner