Classic
Vanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Summary
Cunning, resourceful Becky Sharp claws her way up through English society by manipulation and charm, while her more conventional friend Amelia Sedley suffers through loyalty to an unworthy husband. Thackeray narrates the whole panorama with open sarcasm, reminding readers constantly that his characters are puppets in a show he calls Vanity Fair. The novel's refusal to offer a true hero, subtitled A Novel without a Hero, made it a sharp departure from the moral certainties of earlier fiction.
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Historical Context & Significance
Thackeray published the novel in monthly installments between 1847 and 1848, satirizing the social climbing of Regency England from the vantage point of the Victorian present. It remains a defining example of the panoramic social novel.