 While he thought of Thackeray as a genius, he also thought that Trollope wrote the better books, books that don't knock you down with their power and depth.He stated, "What I don't care twopence about is the sense (apparently dear to so many) of being in the hands of 'a great man'--you know; his dazzling personality, his lightning energy, the strange force of his mind--and all that.So that I quite definitely prefer Trollope--or rather this re-reading of "Pendennis" confirms my long standing preference" ("Collected Letters", Vol.