Book Description
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(The necessity of a work on Snobs, demonstrated from History, and proved by felicitous illustrations: - I am the individual destined to write that work - My vocation is announced in terms of great eloquence - I show that the world has been gradually preparing itself for the WORK and the MAN - Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science, and are a part of theBeautiful( witha large B). They pervade all classes - Affecting instance of Colonel Snobley.)We have all read a statement, (the authenticity of which I take leave to doubt entirely, for upon what calculations I should like to know is it founded?) - we have all, I say, been favoured by perusing a remark, that when the times and necessities of the world call for a Man, that individual is found. Thus at the French Revolution (which the reader will be pleased to have introduced so early), when it was requisite to administer a corrective dose to the nation, Robespierre was found; a most foul and nauseous dose indeed, and swallowed eagerly by the patient, greatly to the latter's ultimate advantage: thus, when it became necessary to kick John Bull out of America, Mr. Washington stepped forward, and performed that job to satisfaction: thus, when the Earl of Aldborough was unwell, Professor Holloway appeared with his pills, and cured his lordship, as per advertisement, &c.&c. Numberless instances might be adduced to show that when a nation is in great want, the relief is at hand; just as in the Pantomime (that microcosm) where when CLOWN wants anything - a warming-pan, a pump-handle, a goose, or a lady's tippet - a fellow comes sauntering out from behind the side-scenes with the very article in question. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Filler Material?
I usually like Thackeray's works a lot. That's why I didn't hesitate to buy this. Book of Snobs seemed to be something he wrote to break in a new pen; or maybe he had promised a publisher something on a deadline and ran out of ideas.Parts are humorous, but I was bored. Thank goodness I read quickly; otherwise I'm not sure I would have finished it. Do not let this review of a single book turn you off to Thackeray. Do try Henry Esmond or Barry Lyndon. (The third star is because it's Thackeray - and maybe I missed something.) ... Read more

Book Description
In Selected Letters of William Makepeace Thackeray, Edgar F. Harden provides a lively and accessible framework for selectedletters, diaries, and comical illustrations of Thackeray. Harden has carefully selected documents which convey the essential biographical developments of a very interesting life and pictorial expressions of a great man of letters. He traces Thackeray's growth and development as a writer, from his school days in Southhampton to Cambridge University, which he left without a degree, to his ascendence as a writer.

In spite of his personal struggles Thackeray articulates in his letters a great exuberance for life. Harden has included seventy five of Thackeray's comical illustrations, which support and enhance the letters they accompany.

... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Disappointing Study
This is an unexpectedly weak effort by Professor Shillingsburg.There is very little biography in this "Life," and insofar as the term chosen by Professor Shillingsburg is "Literary Life," there is surprisingly little literary appreciation here as well.What we find instead are two or three observations on Thackeray's methods repeated over and over.That the narrators in Thackeray's novels were not always omniscient, nor always reflective of Thackeray's own personal views, is simple to grasp, and does not merit the repetitive treatment given in this book. The use of pseudonyms to layer meaning was done far more sophisticatedly in Thackeray's day by Kierkegaard, and has been a literary commonplace ever since.Similarly, the notion that it helps to know something about a period of history in order "to get" the inside references in fiction set in that period is another commonplace that hardly merits being treated, as here, like a discovery.Certainly it does not help to hang a footnote to a reference to the Keating Five (to demonstrate the fleeting memory of even current events), which footnote says they were accused of insider trading in the 1980s.They were, of course, five members of Congress accused of taking bribes in an S&L scandal.This is a disappointing effort by a man of whom better should be expected. ... Read more

Book Description
The Newcomes is Thackeray's most "Victorian" novel, generous in its proportions, sharp in its criticism of the morality of the age, and encyclopedic in its reference.Set in the 1830s and 1840s, a period of rapid change and of political and economic development, the novel considers the
fortunes and misfortunes of a respectable extended middle-class family.At its center is Thomas Newcome, whose distinctive but old-fashioned gentlemanliness stands from the self-seeking society in which he lives.The most observant and witty of Thackeray's novels, The Newcomes is also among his
most complex and allusive, and this edition provides full and detailed notes that clarify many of his references. ... Read more

Book Description
This is an authoritative and comprehensive account of the life and career of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-63), one of the most eminent English novelists. Drawing upon Thackeray's extensive correspondence, memoirs of him by his contemporaries, subsequent biographical studies, and bibliographies of his writings, the Chronology presents a detailed account of his personal and professional life. ... Read more

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