Brief Description
The story of English society in the early nineteenth century.
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A panoramic satire of English society during the Napoleonic Wars, Vanity Fair is William Makepeace Thackeray s masterpiece. At its center is one of the most unforgettable characters in nineteenth-century literature: the enthralling Becky Sharp, a charmingly ruthless social climber who is determined to leave behind her humble origins, no matter the cost. Her more gentle friend Amelia, by contrast, only cares for Captain George Osborne, despite his selfishness and her family s disapproval. As both women move within the flamboyant milieu of Regency England, the political turmoil of the era is matched by the scheming Becky s sensational rise and its unforeseen aftermath.
Based in part upon Thackeray s own love for the wife of a friend, Vanity Fair portrays the hypocrisy and corruption of high society and the dangers of unrestrained ambition with epic brilliance and scathing wit.With an introduction by Catherine Peters.
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
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Review Quotes
1. " I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare [as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
--Robert Louis Stevenson
" The lasting and universal popularity of The Three Musketeers shows that Dumas, by artlessly expressing his own nature in the persons of his heroes, was responding to that craving for action, strength and generosity which is a fact in all periods and all places."
--Andree Maurois
2. "I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare [as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
--Robert Louis Stevenson
"The lasting and universal popularity of The Three Musketeers shows that Dumas, by artlessly expressing his own nature in the persons of his heroes, was responding to that craving for action, strength and generosity which is a fact in all periods and all places."
--Andree Maurois
3. ""Vanity Fair" was Thackeray's masterpiece. Subversive, funny, complex and serious, it is the work of an intellectual athlete at the height of his powers."
--from the Introduction by Catherine Peters
4. "Vanity Fair" was Thackeray s masterpiece. Subversive, funny, complex and serious, it is the work of an intellectual athlete at the height of his powers.
from the Introduction by Catherine Peters"
5. Vanity Fair was Thackeray s masterpiece. Subversive, funny, complex and serious, it is the work of an intellectual athlete at the height of his powers.
from the Introduction by Catherine Peters"
