Значение слова OLIPHANT в Литературной энциклопедии

OLIPHANT

MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT (WILSON) (1828-1897).-Novelist and miscellaneous writer, was _b._ near Musselburgh. Her literary output began when she was little more than a girl, and was continued almost up to the end of her life. Her first novel, _Mrs. Margaret Maitland_, appeared in 1849, and its humour, pathos, and insight into character gave the author an immediate position in literature. It was followed by an endless succession, of which the best were the series of _The Chronicles of Carlingford_ (1861-65), including _Salem Chapel_, _The Perpetual Curate_, and _Miss Marjoribanks_, all of which, as well as much of her other work, appeared in _Blackwood's Magazine_, with which she had a lifelong connection. Others of some note were _The Primrose Path_, _Madonna Mary_ (1866), _The Wizard's Son_, and _A Beleaguered City_. She did not, however, confine herself to fiction, but wrote many books of history and biography, including _Sketches of the Reign of George II._ (1869), _The Makers of Florence_ (1876), _Literary History of England_ 1790-1825, _Royal Edinburgh_ (1890), and Lives of _St. Francis of Assisi_, _Edward Irving_, and _Principal Tulloch_. Her generosity in supporting and educating the family of a brother as well as her own two sons rendered necessary a rate of production which was fatal to the permanence of her work. She was negligent as to style, and often wrote on subjects to which her intellectual equipment and knowledge did not enable her to do proper justice. She had, however, considerable power of painting character, and a vein of humour, and showed untiring industry in getting up her subjects.

Литературная энциклопедия.