E-text prepared by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.
Anthony Trollope was an established novelist of great renown when NinaBalatka was published in 1866, twenty years after his first novel.Except for La Vendée, his third novel, set in France during theRevolution, all his previous works were set in England or Ireland anddealt with the upper levels of society: the nobility and the landedgentry (wealthy or impoverished), and a few well-to-do merchants — peopleseveral strata above the social levels of the characters popularized byhis contemporary Dickens. Most of Trollope's early novels were set inthe countryside or in provincial towns, with occasional forays intoLondon. The first of his political novels, Can You Forgive Her, dealingwith the Pallisers was published in 1864, two years before Nina. By thetime he began writing Nina, shortly after a tour of Europe, Trollopewas a master at chronicling the habits, foibles, customs, and ways oflife of his chosen subjects.
Nina Balatka is, on the surface, a love story — not an unusual theme forTrollope. Romance and courtship were woven throughout all his previousworks, often with two, three, or even more pairs of lovers per novel.Most of his heroes and heroines, after facing numerous hurdles, oftenof their own making, were eventually happily united by the next-to-lastchapter. A few were doomed to disappointment (Johnny Eames never wonthe heart of Lily Dale through two of the "Barsetshire" novels), butmarital bliss — or at least the prospect of bliss — was the usual outcome.Even so, the reader of Trollope soon notices his analytical descriptionof Victorian courtship and marriage. In the circles of Trollope'scharacters, only the wealthy could afford to marry for love; those