Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

William Makepeace Thackeray (Author), John Carey (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: February 26, 2002

Among the vibrant cast of characters who scheme and scramble for life's prizes in this entertaining saga, no one is better equipped than Becky Sharp, Thackeray's supreme creation. Brilliant, alluring, and ruthless, she defies her poverty-stricken background to climb the social ladder, while her sentimental companion Amelia longs only for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of English society during the Napoleonic wars, military and domestic battles are fought and fortunes are made and lost. Amid the fast-paced comic action stands Dobbin, a true gentleman in a corrupt world, whose unrequited love for Amelia brings pathos and depth to Thackeray's epic satire.

This edition includes a new introduction, a chronology of Thackeray's life and works, a select reading list, and an appendix containing parodic material Thackeray cut from the 1853 edition.

Editorial Reviews

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 then trained as a lawyer before turning to journalism. He was a regular contributor to periodicals and magazines. Vanity Fair was serialized in Punch in 1847-1848.

Product Details

• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140437533
• ISBN-13: 978-0140437539
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More fun than a barrel of monkeys!, January 10, 2003

By 

M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

When reading victorian fiction, with its prim and child-like heroines, I sometimes long for a story about someone who is neither long suffering or innocent. Vanity Fair is the perfect remedy. Becky Sharp probably is the wickedest woman in 19th century fiction and one of the most delightful. Whether facing uncertainties at the battle of Waterloo, or seeking a rich protector, or FINALLY marrying for money (this husband disappears before the money does), Becky is determined to have the kind of life with which she would like to become accustomed. This book is pure pleasure since the reader is always wondering "what is she going to do next." This book cannot be praised too highly.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the 2 or 3 Greatest Novels in the English Language, September 23, 2002

By 

Andy Todes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Hilarious, scathing, wistful, beautiful.

Incredibly modern; the language is as fresh as if Thackeray had penned it yesterday.

A pure delight from beginning to end.

If you're one of those booklovers who reads as much as anthing else in order to get to know the author, in order to sit down and share a beer with him (or her) as it were, then this is your book.

You will come to adore Thackeray, to wish he were your best friend.

In short, if you love Henry Fielding's brand of humor and conversation with the reader in Tom Jones, then you will love Vanity Fair.

This Penguin edition features a brilliant introduction by John Carey, in which he draws comparisons between Vanity Fair and another sumpreme work of art: War and Peace.

In fact he argues that without Vanity Fair, there may never have been a War and Peace.

Ahh, Dobbin. A character that will live in my heart forever.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original "Gone With The Wind", July 20, 2003

By 

Allen MacCannell (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I read about 2 books per week on average, in English, German or Russian. My favorite book of all time is "Vanity Fair". Why? Because it seems to be the intellectual progenitor of both "War and Peace" as well as "Gone With the Wind," each of which themselves could have been my favorite book. All three epics occur within a major war, all three have main characters involved in massive and famous battles, and all three describe two types of women waiting for their men to survive or perish in battle: the "Scarlett Ohara - Becky Sharpe" prototype and the "Melanie - Amelia" prototype. For me the theme of this novel, and of "Gone With the Wind", is that its the Melanies and Amelias of the world that make life worth living and fighting for (when fighting is truly necessary). In this novel, Becky Sharpe is an anti-heroine in the same way that Scarlett Ohara was. I hope that some author, somewhere, is now writing an epic novel that deals similarly with modern times and the current war.