Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (best thriller novels to read TXT) π
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Vanity Fair is perhaps Thackerayβs most famous novel. First serialized over the course of 19 volumes in Punch Magazine and first printed as a single volume in 1849, the novel cemented Thackerayβs literary fame and kept him busy with frequent revisions and even lecture circuits.
The story is framed as a puppet play, narrated by an unreliable narrator, that presents the story of Becky Sharp and Emmy Sedley and the people in their lives as they struggle through the Napoleonic Wars. The story itself, like many other Thackeray novels, is a satire of the lives of the Victorian English of a certain class. Thackeray packed the novel with allusions, many of which were difficult even for his contemporary readers; part of the heavy revisions he later made were making the allusions more accessible to his evolving audience.
As part of his satirical bent, Thackeray made a point to make each character flawed, so that there are no βheroesβ in the bookβhence the subtitle βA Novel Without a Hero.β Thackerayβs goal was not only to entertain, but to instruct; to that end, he wanted the reader to look within themselves after finishing the unhappy conclusion, in which thereβs no hint as to how society might be able to improve on the evils shadowed in the events of novel.
Vanity Fair received glowing praise by its critical contemporaries, and remains a popular book well into modern times, having been adapted repeatedly for film, radio, and television.
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- Author: William Makepeace Thackeray
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βIt is not that speech of yesterday,β he continued, βwhich moves you. That is but the pretext, Amelia, or I have loved you and watched you for fifteen years in vain. Have I not learned in that time to read all your feelings and look into your thoughts? I know what your heart is capable of: it can cling faithfully to a recollection and cherish a fancy, but it canβt feel such an attachment as mine deserves to mate with, and such as I would have won from a woman more generous than you. No, you are not worthy of the love which I have devoted to you. I knew all along that the prize I had set my life on was not worth the winning; that I was a fool, with fond fancies, too, bartering away my all of truth and ardour against your little feeble remnant of love. I will bargain no more: I withdraw. I find no fault with you. You are very good-natured, and have done your best, but you couldnβtβ βyou couldnβt reach up to the height of the attachment which I bore you, and which a loftier soul than yours might have been proud to share. Goodbye, Amelia! I have watched your struggle. Let it end. We are both weary of it.β
Amelia stood scared and silent as William thus suddenly broke the chain by which she held him and declared his independence and superiority. He had placed himself at her feet so long that the poor little woman had been accustomed to trample upon him. She didnβt wish to marry him, but she wished to keep him. She wished to give him nothing, but that he should give her all. It is a bargain not unfrequently levied in love.
Williamβs sally had quite broken and cast her down. Her assault was long since over and beaten back.
βAm I to understand then, that you are goingβ βaway, William?β she said.
He gave a sad laugh. βI went once before,β he said, βand came back after twelve years. We were young then, Amelia. Goodbye. I have spent enough of my life at this play.β
Whilst they had been talking, the door into Mrs. Osborneβs room had opened ever so little; indeed, Becky had kept a hold of the handle and had turned it on the instant when Dobbin quitted it, and she heard every word of the conversation that had passed between these two. βWhat a noble heart that man has,β she thought, βand how shamefully that woman plays with it!β She admired Dobbin; she bore him no rancour for the part he had taken against her. It was an open move in the game, and played fairly. βAh!β she thought, βif I could have had such a husband as thatβ βa man with a heart and brains too! I would not have minded his large feetβ; and running into her room, she absolutely bethought herself of something, and wrote him a note, beseeching him to stop for a few daysβ βnot to think of goingβ βand that she could serve him with A.
The parting was over. Once more poor William walked to the door and was gone; and the little widow, the author of all this work, had her will, and had won her victory, and was left to enjoy it as she best might. Let the ladies envy her triumph.
At the romantic hour of dinner, Mr. Georgy made his appearance and again remarked the absence of βOld Dob.β The meal was eaten in silence by the party. Josβs appetite not being diminished, but Emmy taking nothing at all.
After the meal, Georgy was lolling in the cushions of the old window, a large window, with three sides of glass abutting from the gable, and commanding on one side the marketplace, where the Elephant is, his mother being busy hard by, when he remarked symptoms of movement at the Majorβs house on the other side of the street.
βHullo!β said he, βthereβs Dobβs trapβ βthey are bringing it out of the courtyard.β The βtrapβ in question was a carriage which the Major had bought for six pounds sterling, and about which they used to rally him a good deal.
Emmy gave a little start, but said nothing.
βHullo!β Georgy continued, βthereβs Francis coming out with the portmanteaus, and Kunz, the one-eyed postilion, coming down the market with three schimmels. Look at his boots and yellow jacketβ βainβt he a rum one? Whyβ βtheyβre putting the horses to Dobβs carriage. Is he going anywhere?β
βYes,β said Emmy, βhe is going on a journey.β
βGoing on a journey; and when is he coming back?β
βHe isβ βnot coming back,β answered Emmy.
βNot coming back!β cried out Georgy, jumping up.
βStay here, sir,β roared out Jos.
βStay, Georgy,β said his mother with a very sad face. The boy stopped, kicked about the room, jumped up and down from the window-seat with his knees, and showed every symptom of uneasiness and curiosity.
The horses were put to. The baggage was strapped on. Francis came out with his masterβs sword, cane, and umbrella tied up together, and laid them in the well, and his desk and old tin cocked-hat case, which he placed under the seat. Francis brought out the stained old blue cloak lined with red camlet, which had wrapped the owner up any time these fifteen years, and had manchen Sturm erlebt, as a favourite song of those days said. It had been new for the campaign of Waterloo and had covered George and William after the night of Quatre Bras.
Old Burcke, the landlord of the lodgings, came out, then Francis, with more packagesβ βfinal packagesβ βthen Major Williamβ βBurcke wanted to kiss him. The Major was adored by all people with whom he
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