WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863) was born in India to a long line of Yorkshire yeomen recently mixed with equally ancient gentry. In 1817,two years after the death of his father, a prosperous official of the East India Company, the boy was sent back to England. There he underwent the proper education of a young gendeman, including a broken nose in public (i.e., private) school, and then a round of laziness and dissipation at Cambridge, where he also began a lasting friendship with Edward FitzGerald, made the acquaintance of Tennyson and other notables, and first glimpsed his vocation as man of letters. There followed a stint at the Middle Temple, during which he continued his Cambridge pursuits while ostensibly studying law. Meanwhile, his mother had remarried, this time to an old flame, Major Edward Carmichael-Smyth. At twenty-one Thackeray inherited about ~20,000, and at twenty-two he lost it through the collapse of companies in India.

A deliciously satirical attack on a money-mad society, Vanity Fair, which first appeared in 1847, is an immensely moral novel, and an immensely witty one. Called in its subtitle "A Novel Without a Hero," Vanity Fair has instead two heroines: the faithful, loyal Amelia Sedley and the beautiful and scheming social climber Becky Sharp. It also engages a huge cast of wonderful supporting characters as the novel spins from Miss Pinkerton"s academy for young ladies to affairs of love and war on the Continent to liaisons in the dazzling ballrooms of London. Thackeray"s forte is the bon mot and it is amply exercised in a novel filled with memorably wicked lines. Lengthy and leisurely in pace,the novel follows the adventures of Becky and Amelia as their fortunes rise and fall, creating a tale both picaresque and risque. Thackeray mercilessly skewers his society, especially the upper class, poking fun at their shallow values and pointedly jabbing at their hypocritical "morals." His weapons, however, are not fire and brimstone but an unerring eye for the absurd and a genius for observation of the foibles of his age. An enduring classic,this great novel is a brilliant study in duplicity and hypocrisy...and a mirror with which to view our own times.

INTRODUCTION

READING LIST

BEFORE THE CURTAIN

CHISWICK MALL

IN WHICH MISS SHARP AND MISS SEDLEY PREPARE TO OPEN THE CAMPAIGN

REBECCA IS IN PRESENCE OF THE ENEMY

THE GREEN SILK PURSE

DOBBIN OF OURS

VAUXHALL

CRAWLEY OF QUEEN"S CRAWLEY

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

FAMILY PORTRAITS

MISS SHARP BEGINS TO MAKE FRIENDS

ARCADIAN SIMPLICITY

QUITE A SENTIMENTAL CHAPTER

SENTIMENTAL AND OTHERWISE

MISS CRAWLEY AT HOME

IN WHICH REBECCA"S HUSBAND APPEARS FOR A SHORT TIME

THE LETTER ON THE PINCUSHION

HOW CAPTAIN DOBBIN BOUGHT A PIANO

WHO PLAYED ON THE PIANO CAPTAIN DOBBIN BOUGHT

MISS CRAWLEY AT NURSE

IN WHICH CAPTAIN DOBBIN ACTS AS THE MESSENGER OF HYMEN

A QUARREL ABOUT AN HEIRESS

A MARRIAGE AND PART OF A HONEYMOON

CAPTAIN DOBBIN PROCEEDS ON HIS CANVASS

IN WHICH MR. OSBORNE TAKES DOWN THE FAMILY BIBLE

IN WHICH ALL THE PRINCIPAL PERSONAGES THINK FIT TO LEAVE BRIGHTON

BETWEEN LONDON AND CHATHAM

IN WHICH AMELIA JOINS HER REGIMENT

IN WHICH AMELIA INVADES THE LOW COUNTRIES

BRUSSELS

"THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME"

IN WHICH Jos SEDLEY TAKES CARE OF His SISTER

IN WHICH Jos TAKES FLIGHT, AND THE WAR IS BROUGHT TO A CLOSE

IN WHICH MISS CRAWLEY"S RELATIONS ARE VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT HER

JAMES CRAWLEY"S PIPE IS PUT OUT

WIDOW AND MOTHER

How TO LIVE WELL ON NOTHING A YEAR

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED

A FAMILY IN A VERY SMALL WAY

A CYNICAL CHAPTER

IN WHICH BECKY IS RECOGNIZED BY THE FAMILY

IN WHICH BECKY REVISITS THE HALLS OF HER ANCESTORS

WHICH TREATS OF THE OSBORNE FAMILY

IN WHICH THE READER. HAS TO DOUBLE THE CAPE

A ROUND-ABOUT CHAPTER BETWEEN LONDON AND HAMPSHIRE

BETWEEN HAMPSHIRE AND LONDON

STRUGGLES AND TRIALS

GAUNT HOUSE

IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THE VERY BEST OF COMPANY

IN WHICH WE ENJOY THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT

CONTAINS A VULGAR INCIDENT

IN WHICH A CHARADE IS ACTED WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT PUZZLE THE READER

IN WHICH LORD STEYNE SHOWS HIMSELF IN A MOST AMIABLE LIGHT

A RESCUE AND A CATASTROPHE

SUNDAY AFTER THE BATTLE

IN WHICH THE SAME SUBJECT IS PURSUED

GEORGY IS MADE A GENTLEMAN

EOTHEN

OUR FRIEND THE MAJOR

THE OLD PIANO

RETURNS TO THE GENTEEL WORLD

IN WHICH TWO LIGHTS ARE PUT OUT

AM RHEIN

IN WHICH WE MEET AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE

A VAGABOND CHAPTER

FULL OF BUSINESS AND PLEASURE

AMANTIUM IRE

WHICH CONTAINS BIRTHS, MARRIAGES,AND DEATHS