Anthony Adverse is a completely satisfying novel, even when read only as historical and romance fiction, but, for the reader who is searching for more, Anthony is full of serious symbolic intent.
To paraphrase Hervey Allen's own words on the subject:
"Anthony was the biography of a man struggling to remain a complete human being in the midst of a dying commercial civilization" and a rising one of international capitalism, industrialization and competitive nationalism. That, of course,... will never do these days to say aloud! In order to make the book 'go' it had to be advertised and stressed as a 'romantic' novel."
This great book has been discussed and analyzed many times over, and rather than do a rehash of these, we thought it would be more web-friendly if we outlined the three volumes of Anthony Adverse and describe what we liked most about them and perhaps add some insights of our own.
Anthony Adverse is a novel containing three trilogies; nine books in all.
Click on any of these volumes:
Hervey Allen wrote the novel Anthony Adverse from 1929 to 1933 --- the dreariest years of the Great Depression, and against regular pressures from publisher's Farrar and Rhinehart to meet deadlines. The publishling world had been experiencing a downturn, along with the rest of the Nation, and great hopes were pinned on the public's reaction to Anthony Adverse. The result was worth all of the anxiety and anticipation, because Anthony was received as a triumph of writing skill, and became a huge commercial success in America, as well as in Europe. It also helped to secure Hervey Allen some financial relief during the relatively lean years of the 1930's.
