Antonina (Collins novel)

Antonina, or the Fall of Rome is an 1850 novel by Wilkie Collins. ^[1]

The novel was completed in 1848 and, after the first two publishers refused to accept it, it was issued by Richard Bentley as a three-volume book early in 1850. It is the only example of Collins writing a classical romance novel; and it was met, as Collins later recalled, "with such a chorus of praise as has never been sung over me since". Bentley advertised it in the March 1850 issue of Athenaeum , quoting a full column of "effusive praise from nine dailies and weeklies" where, for example, The Observer described it as "a remarkable book", and The Morning Post lauded it as "sufficient to place [its author] in the very first rank of English novelists". July issue of Harper's Magazine hailed its "splendour of imagination", while another issue of The Athenaeum and an issue of The Eclectic Review compared Collins to William Shakespeare. ^[2]

References

1. Mangham, Andrew (2008). "Mental States: Political and Psychological Conflict in Antonina". In Andrew Mangham (ed.). Wilkie Collins: Interdisciplinary Essays. p. 97. ISBN   1443802239. Such differences between literary and medical descriptions of the links between insanity and political revolution are also evident in Wilkie Collins's first published novel Antonina, or the Fall of Rome (1850). Collins began writing this book in 1846 but had to delay its completion in order to write a biography of his father (Gasson 1998, 8). The story was eventually published by Richard Bentley in 1850....
2. Page N; Southam BC (20 January 1995). "Introduction. In: Wilkie Collins (9780415134644)". Taylor & Francis Ltd / Books: 4. Retrieved December 16, 2025.

Further reading

• Allen B. More than sensational: The life & art of Wilkie Collins. New Criterion. 1993;12(4):31. Accessed December 16, 2025. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=9408021219&lang=ru&site=eds-live&scope=site