Product Description

Vanity Fair, Thackeray's panoramic, satirical saga of corruption at all levels of English society, was published in 1847 but set during the Napoleonic Wars. It chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a typically naive Victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family. Becky's fluctuating fortunes eventually bring her to an affair with Amelia's dissolute husband; when he is killed at Waterloo, Amelia and her child are left penniless, while Becky and her husband Rawdon Crawley rise in the world, managing to lead a high life in London solely on the basis of their shrewdness. (The chapter entitled "How to Live on Nothing" is a classic.) Thackeray's subtitle, "A Novel Without a Hero," is understating the case; his view of humanity in this novel is distinctly bleak and deliberately antiheroic. Critics of the time misunderstood the book, decrying it as (among other things) vicious, vile, and odious. But VANITY FAIR has endured as one of the great comic novels of all time, and a landmark in the history of realism in fiction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74134 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 688 pages

About the Author
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was born and educated to be a gentleman but gambled away much of his fortune while at Cambridge. He trained as a lawyer before turning to journalism. He was a regular contributor to periodicals and magazines and Vanity Fair was serialised in Punch in 1847-8.

Customer Reviews

Greatest novel of the 19th century
After reading "Vanity Fair" I've decided that it is probably the best English-language novel of the 19th-century, maybe the best ever - it's a shame it doesnt get the same exposure as "Wuthering Heights", "Pride and Prejudice" or any of Dickens' novels, as it is far better than any of those. On top of that, Becky Sharp is in my opinion the best, most original character in English literature - you cant help but love her, despite how much of a bitch she is, whereas nice, sweet Amelia is so wet behind the ears you cant help but hate her.

The plot of the novel is extremely epic, spanning something like twenty years in the lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, two friends who leave a finishing school together. Amelia comes from a rich merchant's family, is sweet, good-natured and kind but not very worldly, and is engaged to George Osborne, a family friend whom she idolises. Becky is the daughter of a penniless, drunken artist who is now dead - but even though Becky has no money, she is rich in wit, cunning and manipulative skills. At first she tries to seduce Joseph Sedley, Amelia's stupid but wealthy brother - and she would have gotten away with it, too, if it werent for that darn bowl of punch. After failing to land Jos, Becky becomes governess for Sir Pitt Crawley, a half-crazy baronet in the Hampshire countryside. Becky marries his lad-about-town son Rawdon in secret, which enrages Sir Pitt's exceedingly rich sister Miss Crawley, who disowns Rawdon. Meanwhile Amelia's father has gone bankrupt; subsequently, George Osborne's father, forbids George from marrying her - but George's best friend Dobbin, who is in love with Amelia, arranges the marriage and George's dad disowns them. George, Rawdon and Dobbin then all head off to the battle of Waterloo with Amelia and Becky in tow. In Brussels Becky is the centre of attention because of her charming wit - George, who never cared much about Amelia anyway, asks Becky to run away with him, but before he gets the chance, he is shot and killed at the battle of Waterloo, leaving Amelia as a single mother when she returns to England. Becky and Rawdon return home via Paris where they run up huge debts; in London, Becky's charm and cunning enables them to live like superstars on no money whatsoever and Becky reaches the height of society - but Rawdon feels left out and when he discovers that Becky is having an affair with Lord Steyne, he leaves her. The subsequent scandal sees Becky cast out from society. Meanwhile George Osborne's father pays Amelia to let her son Georgy live with him - this breaks Amelia's heart but she has no choice. Eventually Osborne Sr dies, Dobbin returns from India as does Jos Sedley, and Amelia is rich again and gets Georgy back - but she is still too obsessed with her late husband to marry Dobbin, who loves her passionately. On a holiday to Germany, the family meets a destitute Becky, who tells Amelia about her and George's affair; now Amelia is free to marry Dobbin, even though by now his love for her is a shadow of what it once was. Becky seduces Jos again and not long after, he dies, leaving her lots of money - its implied she killed him.

The novel is quite long and very complicated - sometimes you get the feeling that Thackeray is having trouble structuring it. However it excels in humor, being a perfect satire that never goes too far and becomes a spoof. My favourite parts were: the description of the events surrounding the Battle of Waterloo, which are written in a very epic and dynamic manner by the author; the character of Becky Sharp, and the scene, where, having been found out by her husband Rawdon, she is found by her maid sitting on the bed, staring into space; and the spot-on social commentary of Regency England.

This book may not be as famous as some other 19th century novels but trust me, if you fail to read this, you're missing out big style.

Sharpe and Fair
Greed, gold-digging and deception sit at the heart of "Vanity Fair." It's no joke that it's subtitled "a novel without a hero" -- William Makepeace Thackeray mercilessly skewered the pretentions and flaws of the upper class all throughout it. The result is a gloriously witty social satire.

It opens with two young women departing from a ladies' academy: dull, sweet Amelia (rich) and fiery sharp-witted Rebecca (poor). Becky Sharp is a relentless social climber, and her first effort to rise "above her station" is by trying to get Amelia's brother to marry her -- an effort thwarted by Amelia's fiancee. So instead she gets married to another family's second son, Rawdon Crawley.

Unfortunately, both young couples quickly get disinherited and George is killed. But Becky is determined to live the good life she has worked and married for -- she obtains jewels and money from admiring gentlemen, disrupting her marriage. But a little thing like a tarnished reputation isn't enough to keep Becky down...

"Vanity Fair" is actually a lot more complex than that, with dozens of little subplots and complicated character relationships. Reading it a few times is necessary to really absorb all of it, since it is not just a look at the two women in the middle of the book, but at the upper (and sometimes lower) social strata of the nineteenth century.

The main flaw of the book is perhaps that it sprawls too much -- there's always a lot of stuff going on, not to mention a huge cast of characters, and Thackeray sometimes drops the ball when it comes to the supporting characters and their little plots. It takes a lot of patience to absorb all of this. However... it's worth it.

Like most nineteenth-century writers, Thackeray had a very dense, formal writing style -- but once you get used to it, his writing becomes insanely funny. Witticisms and quips litter the pages, even if you don't pick them all up at once. At first Thackeray seems incredibly cynical (Becky's little schemes almost always pay off), but taken as a social satire, it's easier to understand why he was so cynical about the society of the time.

Becky Sharp is the quintessential anti-heroine -- she's very greedy and cold, yet she's also so smart and determined that it's hard not to have a grudging liking for her. Certainly life hasn't been fair for her. Next to Becky, a goody-goody character like Amelia is pretty boring, and even the unsubtle George can't measure up to Becky.

To sum up "Vanity Fair": think a period soap opera with a heavy dose of social commentary. In other words, it doesn't get much better than this, Thackeray's masterpiece.

A brilliant satire on society during the Napoleonic Wars
Thackeray called Vanity Fair "a novel without a hero". But characters like the clever social-climbing Becky Sharp and self-sacrificing William Dobbin are candidates I would nominate for that exalted title. The structure of society, as portrayed by Thackeray is built on maintaining the appearance of wealth, coupled with "virtue", at the expense of everything else. The story is seen mainly through the very different lives of Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, with the mocking voice of the author indicating the hidden morals and motives. I like the way Becky's caricatures of her would-be patrons and friends echo Thackeray's wider view overall of the petty spites and vices which are commonly hidden under seeming kindnesses.