Literature of the world : an introductory study . in his later of his life, however,was spent in , illustrating,magazine-writing, and de-scriptions of his travelsoccupied the early yearsof his manhood. He wroteunder assumed names atfirst and seemed to havea special fondness forone of these, MichaelAngelo Titmarsh. LikeDickens he gave publiclectures in England andAmerica. Thackerays es-says and papers on vari-ous subjects are of a piece, as to style and interest and delicatehumor, with his novels. He was a clubbable man, a rare friend,an engaging letter-writer. We l
Literature of the world : an introductory study . in his later of his life, however,was spent in , illustrating,magazine-writing, and de-scriptions of his travelsoccupied the early yearsof his manhood. He wroteunder assumed names atfirst and seemed to havea special fondness forone of these, MichaelAngelo Titmarsh. LikeDickens he gave publiclectures in England andAmerica. Thackerays es-says and papers on vari-ous subjects are of a piece, as to style and interest and delicatehumor, with his novels. He was a clubbable man, a rare friend,an engaging letter-writer. We look upon the familiar portrait, withthe strong, kindly, bespectacled face, feeling the same emotions asif we were looking at a personal friend. Vanity Fair (1847-1848), Pendennis (1850), Henry Es-mond (1852), and the Newcomes (1855) are Thackeraysfinest novels. Let us glance briefly at the first and third of the former Thackeray presents a masterpiece, a society novel ofthe early nineteenth century. It is developed carefully. The whole. WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY ENGLISH LITERATURE 437 action centers in Becky Sharp, one of the immortal figures of litera-ture, dazzling, unscrupulous, resourceful. The novel is without ahero, but unforgetable figures in addition to Becky are not lack-ing— Rawdon Crawley, Amelia Sedley, the Osbornes, and LordSteyne. Thackeray describes brilliantly the fashionable life ofthe period and displays a keen insight into human motives andhuman foibles. Pathos and satiric wit are curiously are great individual scenes, as in all of Thackerays T. Fields says: A friend once congratulated Thackeray on that touch in whichBecky admires her husband when he is giving Lord Steyne the punish-ment which ruins her for life. Well, he said, when I wrote that sen-tence, I slapped my fist on the table, and said, That is a touch ofgenius. Henry Esmond deals with the time of Queen Anne and thesubsequent period and shows Thackerays
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1922
