Vanity fair: authoritative text, backgrounds and contents, criticism
William Makepeace Thackeray; Peter L. Shillingsburg
Language: English
19th century fiction 1811-1863 1815 Battle of Belgium British British - Europe Classic fiction (pre c 1945) Criticism England English Europe European Female friendship Fiction General General & Literary Fiction Irish Literary Literary Criticism Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Literary studies: fiction Literature - Classics Literature: Classics Married women Novels Satire Scottish Social classes Thackeray Vanity fair Waterloo Welsh William Makepeace Women novelists & prose writers other prose & writers: 19th century
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: Dec 15, 1994
Description:
SUMMARY: "Backgrounds and Contexts" is arranged under three headings. "Composition and Publication History" combines modern scholarship with contemporary materials to elucidate the novel's composition and publication history and present different aspects of Thackeray's life and work. "Reception" reprints ten contemporary reviews, both published and unpublished, that suggest the tone of Vanity Fair's initial reception. "Contexts" includes materials relating to governesses, historical novels, the Battle of Waterloo and the military, bankruptcy, regency fashions, and the London landscape, all of which figure prominently in the novel. "Criticism" is a collection of nine essays written between 1900 and 1990 that reveal the developing response to Vanity Fair. William C. Brownell, David Cecil, G. Armour Craig, John Loofbourow, Peter K. Garrett, Richard Barickman, Susan MacDonald, Myra Stark, Ina Ferris, Catherine Peters, and James Phelan provide varied perspectives. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.