#william thackeray

[ificanthaveloveiwantpower]

i watched the crow & god i loved this line. i know the original quote is by william thackeray but i preferred the version said in the crow.

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[fictionadventurer]

As I make my way through Vanity Fair, I'm a little bit obsessed with how Thackeray is so brutal in pointing out his characters' flaws and sarcastic about everything, so you wonder if he can see the good in anything or if he's just here to tear everything and everyone down--and yet he still manages to make you genuinely care about these people. He'll point out all the ways his heroine is stupid and weak--and then turn upon the imagined reader who might be criticizing her for those very things and be like, "I'd like to see you do better." He'll drown you in this tidal wave of satire and then suddenly take your breath away with the most heartfelt emotional moment.

He somehow manages to blend these two different approaches to the story in a way that feels completely natural. It's like he's the cynical wit showing off how smart he is and how much he doesn't care, except that underneath it all he cares so much. Or like the sarcasm is driven not by cynicism, but by idealism that can see how no one lives up to those ideals, so he has to laugh at everyone to avoid falling into despair. I don't know. I haven't finished the book yet so I can't say where he's going with this, but it's fascinating.

[leer-reading-lire]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || May || 30 || Freebie

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

[sparrownimbus2000]

13. William Makepeace Thackeray

Wrote one of my favourite books, a heartbreaking brick of a novel called ‘Vanity Fair’. I was tenderly twelve when I read it, so most of the themes flew right over my head because I tended to be quite naive and had innocent and pure thoughts about the world, much like our beloved Amelia Sedley, one of the main characters in the book, who, notwithstanding her faults, was grossly mistreated by…

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Rip William Thackeray you would have loved Pretty Little Liars

[multifru196]

Rebecca Sharp from Vanity Fair by William Thackeray  

[biboocat]

I’m really enjoying Vanity Fair. I’m not too far into it, but the characters are highly entertaining, and the dryly humorous narration and general air of the novel has given me the giggles. The final verdict must wait, but it’s a treat so far!

Update: Vanity Fair is a satirical masterpiece about our infatuation with rank, wealth, and love and the greed, selfishness, and lies that are often employed in attaining them. It is of course as relevant today as it was in the 19th C. It’s a long novel (784 pages), but the characters and plot lines are so richly drawn, I was never bored. On the contrary, I was curious to the end. The narration is also highly entertaining in its mocking humor and edifying in the form of reflections and pearls of wisdom. It’s a bleak pronouncement on our society, but I admire Thackeray’s courage to tell it. The author describes the novel as one without a hero, but I respectfully disagree and regard Colonel William Dobbin the hero of the story, albeit an atypical one. I loved William Dobbin, but I thought Rebecca Sharp the most complex and interesting character, especially for a Victorian woman. I highly recommend Vanity Fair.

Some funny names:

Dr. Swishtail the headmaster of William Dobbin

Sir Pitt Crawley’s first wife, Grizzel, sixth daughter of Mungo Binkie, Lord Binkie

Sir Huddleston Fuddleston

Lady Jane Sheepshanks

Some Excerpts:

His tongue in cheek advice to liberally compliment people in both low & high positions in order to get ahead - pg 198.

What’s the good of being in Parliament, he (Sir Pitt) said, if you must pay your debts?

He (the proselytizing Mr. Crawley) was always thinking of his brother’s soul, or of the souls of those who differed with him in opinion: it is a sort of comfort which many of the serious give themselves.

She (Miss Crawley) reflected, that it is the ordinary lot of people to have no friends if they themselves care for nobody.

Yes, if a man’s character is to be abused, say what you will, there’s nobody like a relation to do the business.

I know a few things more affecting than the timorous debasement and self humiliation of a woman. How she owns that it is she and not the man who is guilty; how she takes all the faults on her side; how she courts in a manner punishment for the wrongs which she has not committed, and persists in shielding the real culprit! It is those who injure women who get the most kindness from them; they are born timid and tyrants, and maltreat those who are humblest before them. p562-3

I am indebted to Thackeray for his description of cigars in Vanity Fair, and I will retain it for future use: “The waiter brought the Major a mug of beer, as a matter of course; and he took out a cigar, and amused himself with that pernicious vegetable and a newspaper until his charge should come down to claim him.”😂

page 570: humorous list of aristocrats and gentry at Rebecca’s party.

P646 commentary on the suffering poor who strive heroically, hidden from view and commentary on humility.

She didn’t 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.

Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?

[camsquotenotebook]

“Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.”

- William H. Thackeray

[aliyyaharte]

[in-love-with-movies]

Vanity Fair (2004)

[mr-craig]

I’m just nipping to the mirror universe bookshop, anyone want anything? I’m getting a copy of Vanity Unfair by William Makewar Thackeray.

[didanagy]

VANITY FAIR (2004)

dir. mira nair

[fictionadventurer]

I have some thoughts about Vanity Fair now that I've finished it.

Maybe I have a higher tolerance for realism than some people, but I wouldn't call the ending bleak. Not cheery, certainly. I look at the things that happen and I'm just, "Yeah, that's life. Sometimes things happen that way. Wish they didn't, but oh well." It's not glorying in anybody's unhappy end. Not saying they did or didn't deserve it. It's just...this is what happened. Because life doesn't always go the way we want it to.

(Maybe I was just too willing to dismiss the suggestion of murder, IDK. The narrative skips by it so fast and there are so many other characters I care about more that I don't really put my focus there.)

Also, I've got some beef with whoever wrote the Wikipedia analysis of Vanity Fair. It suggests that Thackeray shows us these sympathetic characters and then shows they were unworthy of regard. First off, I think Thackeray was equally brutal to these characters all through the book, and actually got kinder to them in later portions. But also, it's not about being "worthy" of regard. Someone can be good and also be a fool. They can do terrible things but also have moments of kindness. The bad qualities don't mean that the good ones don't exist. Yeah, sure, maybe Thackeray had a poor opinion of most people, but you don't have to share the poor opinion or just focus on the bad parts. The way I look at it, it's just realism--there's good and bad mixed in all people and most of us are just muddling through life, but we can still care about and tell those stories.

I think I had a point somewhere but I lost it so I'll stop typing now.

[philosophors]

As the gambler said of his dice, to love and win is the best thing, to love and lose is the next best.

— William Makepeace Thackeray

[disappointedart]

Sorrows of Werther by Thackeray (as an allegory)

[ladysansa]

Alicent Hightower, Helaena, Aemond, and Aegon Targaryen, House of the Dragon, 1x09 // Nayyirah Waheed, Salt // William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair // Annie Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness