WeBuzz

Reader discussion: Trilby

Public reader discussion about Trilby in the WeRead Catalog by George Du Maurier.

TIL that in Victorian England, the novel "Trilby" became so popular that "Trilby-mania" took over society, with themed products like dolls, clothing, sausages, and foot-shaped ice creams.

By stone-coral57

If you haven’t heard of Trilby, it’s kind of a sad tale about people taking advantage of each other. It’s set in the 1890s, and there’s this woman, Trilby, who gets “hypnotized” by Svengali so she can end up being this big opera star. She’s got a great voice, but she doesn’t really have the technique, so he basically controls what she can do. It also messes up her real relationship—she ends up breaking up with her true love because of it. Then later, when Svengali has a heart attack, the hypnosis stops, and she can’t sing anymore right in the middle of a performance. After that she just kind of fades from being an opera singer and eventually dies too.

Tyler & Wednesday Relationship

By rustylynx9881

Just wrapped up Season 2 and I swear the whole show is basically a weird, messy “courting” thing between Tyler and Wednesday. Their relationship is only “toxic” if you’re judging it like it’s supposed to be normal. For Wednesday, it feels more like her brand of stability—like the kind where she doesn’t get smothered by someone being too okay or too safe. And the family angle is everywhere. Wednesday’s shaped by her whole “what you’re born into vs what you choose” thing, and you can see that in other characters too. Even Hester Frump feels like a big clue: Wednesday idolizes her because they match in the same cold, sharp, ambitious way, but Rosaline Rotwood didn’t buy it for the exact reason that matters—Hester chose family in the end, and that changes how “perfect” she’s allowed to be. Tyler fits into this super cleanly too. He’s never had a family that would accept his Hyde side, so without someone grounding him, he’s just… untethered. The show keeps implying Hydes basically need a master to survive, and Wednesday is kind of the only person who wouldn’t freak out about him. She’s also the only one who seems like she’d actually be comfortable with that power dynamic, which is a lot to say. There’s this whole idea that Hydes bond with their liberators, like they cling to them as an anchor, and Wednesday’s set up as the “saves the day” type anyway. So it makes sense she’d be the one to pull Tyler back from his own self-destruction (and maybe they still have feelings that never really got resolved). What I can’t stop thinking about is how Wednesday’s relationship with control works with him. She thrives on chaos, but she needs to be the one steering it. With Tyler, she doesn’t have to soften herself or shrink her edges just to be tolerated. And for once, his instability isn’t threatening to her—it’s something that needs her. They just keep circling back to each other, even when it gets brutal. Also, Wednesday doesn’t want “safe” the way other people might. She wants someone who gets her darkness without flinching—something her mom and her best friend can’t really give. So yeah, for Tyler and Wednesday it feels like destruction is kind of the love language, and it’s weirdly on-brand for the show. And because I’m me, I couldn’t ignore how gothic romance-y it all feels, especially with the Poe references running through it. Like the classic monster-lover vibe is basically Tyler, and Wednesday is drawn to the forbidden stuff that would be red flags for anyone else. There’s also that power/obsession/surrender-to-ruin energy that makes it hard to call it “healthy,” even if Wednesday would absolutely argue it’s thrilling. Tyler gives major Heathcliff vibes, and Wednesday feels really Catherine-coded too—drawn to danger, pushing past social rules, acting like her wants matter more than everyone else’s comfort. And the S2 moment where she basically pushes him toward becoming a Hyde on purpose? That whole thing reads like she’s fully aware of what she’s doing—like she’s making the dynamic work the way she wants it to. Her development has always been her swallowing her own words and doing things she’d normally hate, and the gothic romance conventions just clicked hard for me when she confronted Morticia about that secret writing thing. Morticia basically smirks like “give it time” and honestly… felt so in line with that whole gothic “mystery/passion/forbidden talent” mood. Anyway, it also felt like Season 2 kept borrowing from a bunch of gothic-adjacent stuff. I can’t even list it all without turning this into an essay, but it definitely has that vibe of classic novels bleeding into the plot. And I’ll admit I’ve got a fan theory too: based on how Season 2 ends, Tyler could end up going even darker and more “Usher” (isolation, unraveling mentally, Wednesday being the only one who doesn’t recoil). Last thing: I’m honestly grateful for this whole gothic, psychological horror book-reference circus. Not trying to be corny, but I was the kid in high school who was obsessed with Poe and all things macabre, and it would’ve been nice if something like this existed back then. This show genuinely feels like it healed a part of me.

50 greatest villains in literature

By sunHardcover1973

I’m not really on board with most of this list, but I’ve got to give the Telegraph credit for putting all 50 on one page instead of dragging me through yet another slideshow.

Trilby by George du Maurier

By Carries1983

Trilby by George du Maurier is one of those 1895 Victorian novels set in 1750s Bohemian France. I’ve heard it’s what Phantom of the Opera was kind of inspired by, but honestly it feels more like a full-on look at Bohemia than anything else. My main problem is it’s so wordy it gets exhausting. The author stretches stuff out forever—like a whole page and a half for what could’ve been one sentence. It also comes off kind of pretentious sometimes, with all these little references to authors and artists from the time. I kept feeling “look at me, I recognize this name,” and then also “wait… I actually don’t get the point,” like it made me want to be smarter than I was. And the French sprinkled in is rough. It’s not constant, but it shows up about once every page, and while I know some French, I ended up using Google Translate for a bunch of the phrases. The author also hangs around the edges of the story a lot, describing streets, boulevards, venues, and restaurants like he’s giving you his travel notes. That part makes it a lot easier to read if you already know Paris, or at least can picture it while you’re going. The character stuff is super detailed too—almost like it turns into long portrait descriptions, and then the actions can feel kind of predictable. For the first half, it honestly feels like not much is happening. You’re basically introduced to Billie, the Laird, and Taffy. I’ll admit I mixed up the Laird and Taffy in my head a couple times. The author basically repeats their traits when needed so you remember who’s doing what, which tells you a lot. Trilby and Svengali feel more believable together, though, and the “periphery” friends don’t really matter much. By contrast, the second half is where things start moving—slowly. Billie's mother is basically the pro/antagonist (I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but that’s how it felt). That’s when it finally picks up. It also makes sense it got a great reception when it came out. Part of me thinks it worked because it was kind of in the papers as this French tourist-style hook. One thing I’ll give du Maurier: those long descriptions really are written well. If you take them in one at a time, you can notice the little subtleties and references. I’ve had this half-idea to re-read it, but I also keep thinking I’d be stuck stopping every time I hit something I don’t fully understand.

Books about struggling artists?

By StarSteady98

I’m working my way through a series set in Stockholm, starting in the 1850s and basically tracking a family as the city changes and grows, all the way up to somewhere around the 1960s, I think. In the second book, one of the family members starts getting into drawing, and you really see what it’s like when you’re stuck in a lower-class situation and trying to make it work as an (almost starving) painter type. After getting through that section, I realized it’s probably my favorite part of the whole series, honestly. So I wanted to ask—does anyone have recommendations for books with a struggling artist as the main character? Time period doesn’t really matter to me, I just want something where you follow the artist trying to get by and make it. Thanks!

Smoke Portrait by Trilby Kent (book review)

By yellowbeaver1975

Set in 1936, this book follows this weird, sort of unlikely friendship between a young Belgian kid who pretends he’s a POW and an English woman in her twenties. They write to each other and sort of invent new versions of themselves, but it still feels like there’s something real underneath. It starts out as just letters, but they gradually rely on each other, and then everything turns way more serious as war starts creeping closer and what’s going on in their real lives gets scarier.