Academic literature on the topic 'Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863'

In England, realism was formed very quickly, because it appeared immediately after the Enlightenment, and its formation occurred almost simultaneously with the development of Romanticism, which did not hinder the success of the new literary movement. The peculiarity of English literature is that in it romanticism and realism coexisted and enriched each other. Examples include the works of two writers, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte. However, the discovery and confirmation of realism in English literature is primarily associated with the legacy of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863). The works of Charles Dickens differ not only in the strengthening of the real social moment, but also in the previous realist literature. Dickens has a profoundly negative effect on bourgeois reality. Key words: England, realism, literary trend, bourgeois society, utopia, unjust life, artistic description

This article analyzes how the British writers Frances Trollope (1779–1863) and William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) described the Belgian coastal resort Ostend in the 1830s and 1840s. A special focus is placed on both the British travelers passing through Ostend and the British resident communities at Ostend. The article will highlight how the assessments of Frances Trollope and William Makepeace Thackeray of Ostend as a coastal resort frequented by the British can be unpacked fruitfully within two overarching themes: the theme of “genteel poverty” and “respectability” on the one hand, and the theme of “national identity” and “religious identity” on the other. These assessments by Frances Trollope and William Makepeace Thackeray are contextualized against the background of contemporary British guidebooks and travel accounts on Ostend, and against some statistics on the British traveller and resident communities in mid-nineteenth century Belgium. (PF)

Vanity Fair is a masterpiece by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), which is centered on the lives of two young women, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, presenting the life of extravagance and rivalry of the aristocratic bourgeoisie in nineteenth-century England. In the novel, Thackeray ruthlessly exposes the shameless and degenerate nature of the feudal aristocracy and the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie in their pursuit of fame and fortune. During the Victorian period, consumerism prevailed. The circulation of commodities was well developed, and people at that time indulged in the revelry of the material world. As long as capital exists, commodities are bound to be an eternal element in the development of human society. This paper focuses on the female protagonist Becky in Vanity Fair by adopting the methods of literature research and textual analysis, revealing Thackeray’s portrayal of commodified interpersonal relationships in the novelas well as the karmic consequences of such aberrant relationships in order to warn contemporary people on the Fair.

The writings of William Thackeray (1811-1863) are dominated by his experience of the commodity form; his apprehension not only of objects and material reality, but also of his own literary productions emerges from economic experience. Working from Pierre Bourdieu's materialist analysis of spatial relationships, the following paper first examines the consequences of commodification on Thackeray's representation of space and material culture, and then briefly analyzes that representation as a product of Thackeray's habitus, understood as the dialectical product of his position within a series of social transformations in mid-Victorian England.

Dans l'oeuvre de thackeray ecrire est depeint comme une activite malsaine. Le lecteur remarque que tous ceux qui ecrivent, lisent, trafiquent ou contribuent de quelle maniere que ce soit a la fabrication et a la distribution de textes sont en quelque sorte souilles par ce contact impur. Afin d'eclaircir l'attitude de thackeray envers le texte, ce travail considere le statut du texte dans le texte thackerayen ainsi que la position de l'auteur vis-avis de l'ecriture comme mode de representation. Le texte de thackeray est examine a travers et a l'aide des differentes definitions du mot "vanite": ostentation, orgueil, frivolite, futilite, suffisance, traitrise, vide et illusion. Les textes sont des objets de veneration qui provoquent une iconolatrie et un fetichisme nefastes, ils sont autoreferentiels et hypotextuels, et le texte thackerayen trahit son lecteur, le prive de directives et designe le texte comme un espace d'illusion aussi fugace et frivole qu'une attraction dans une foire. Thackeray decourage ses lecteurs de chercher un signifie dans son texte, sauf peut-etre le signifie de la vanite d'une telle recherche
In the work of thackeray writing is portrayed as an unhealthy activity. The reader quickly perceives that all those who write, read, traffic in or contribute in any way to the manufacture and distribution of texts is in some way sullied by such an undesirable contact. To clarify thackeray's attitude to texts, it is necessary to consider the status of the text in thackeray's text as well as the author's position concerning writing as a mode of representation. Thackeray's text is examined with the help of the different definitions of the word "vanity": ostentation, pride, frivolity, futility, self-importance, betrayal, emptiness and illusion. Texts are objects of veneration which engender a harmful iconolatry and fetichism, they are self-referential and "hypotextual", and thackeray's own text betrays the reader, depriving him of authorial maps and presenting the text as a place of illusion, as ephemeral and frivolous as an attraction in a fair. Thackeray discourages his readers from seeking a signified in his text, except perhaps the signified of the vanity of such a quest

El objetivo principal de este tesis doctoral es el poner de relieve le evolución que se de en W. M. Thackeray en cuanto al tratamiento de la mujer y del matrimonio en sus noveles, evolución que nos lleva a pensar en un Thackeray progresista y reformista respecto de la sociedad de su tiempo. Los temas "mujer" y "matrimonio" han sido estudiados conjuntamente por considerar que en la obra de Thackeray el matrimonio aparece como la vertiente social de la mujer (el papel da ésta en la sociedad que Thackeray describe es el matrimonio), constituyendo ambos temes de este modo un todo inseparable en la obra de este autor victoriano.

Cabe destacar, asimismo, que este trabajo se centra en las cuatro novelas principales de Thackeray, a saber "Vanity Fair", "Pendennis", "Henry Esmond" y "The Newcomes", por considerar que en ellas (contrariamente a lo que ocurre con el resto de su novelística) existe une clara evolución hasta la creación de Ethel Newcome, en "The Newcomes". Así, y teniendo siempre presente que Thackeray centró su obra en unos grupos sociales determinados (esencialmente en la clase media-alta del Londres de principios del siglo XIX), podemos decir que a través de sus cuatro novelas principales explora la naturaleza de le mujer y su papel en le sociedad, llegando a la creación de un nuevo ideal de mujer que sitúa a caballo entre el ideal victoriano y las nueves ideas que sobre la mujer empezaban a aflorar en la Inglaterra de su época.

Pare lograr el objetivo central de este trabajo, el material se encuentra estructurado en cinco capítulos. El primero de ellos es de tipo introductorio, pues ofrece el lector une breve historia social de la mujer en la primera mitad del siglo XIX, creando así un contexto socio-histórico contra el que se podrá contrastar la figura de la mujer y el matrimonio tal y como aparece en la obra de Thackeray, al tiempo que se podrá apreciar mejor su evolución como escritor.

Tras este capítulo introductorio, se ha dedicado uno independiente a cada novela. Estos cuatro capítulos se encuentran ordenados cronológicamente, es decir, siguiendo el orden de publicación de las novelas. En cada novela, su texto ha sido el punto de partida en la elaboración de las hipótesis, así como el punto de llegada para su confirmación. Se ha tratado, pues, de poner de relieve como los diferentes textos exponen una serie de idees que, contrastadas con el marco social de la época, nos revelan la preocupación de Thackeray por la situación de la mujer y su papel en la sociedad de la Inglaterra de la primera mitad del siglo XIX. Thackeray se caracterizó siempre por su búsqueda del ideal de "gentleman"; a lo largo de su obra se puede observar cómo esta búsqueda le preocupaba enormemente y de qué modo exploró este concepto a lo largo de sus personajes masculinos, llegando a dar vida al Coronel Newcome, el más "gentleman" de todos ellos. Paralelamente, y como se puede apreciar en estas cuatro novelas, Thackeray exploro también el ideal de "gentlewoman", tratando de dar con un ideal de mujer que se acoplara al nuevo mundo pero que, al mismo tiempo, conservara ciertos valores tradicionales tales como la maternidad, valor que consideraba esencial en este figura global y perfecta de la "gentlewoman".

El análisis detallado de estas cuatro novelas nos ha llevado a la conclusión de que Thackeray nos revela, a través de ellas, su gran preocupación par la naturaleza y situación de la mujer en un momento en que se empezaba a percibir la necesidad de que esta situación experimentara un cambio. Este estudio nos lleva a ver de qué manera Thackeray desarrolla en su obra básicamente dos tipos de mujer en busca de un equilibrio que, como hemos mencionado anteriormente, no encuentra hasta su creación de Ethel Newcome. Estos dos tipos de mujer, que se pueden agrupar en torno a los personajes de Becky y Amelia, engloban su retrato de la mujer de principios del siglo XIX, y e través de ellos el autor hace un estudio de la naturaleza de la mujer y su papel en la sociedad. En torno a Amelia se agrupan Helen, Rachel, Rosey y Clara, y Thackeray explora la fragilidad, dependencia, maternidad, amor e infelicidad, características comunes a todas estas mujeres. En torno a Becky se agrupan Blanche y Beatrix, y las principales características que les unen son la fortaleza, la independencia, el rechazo a la maternidad y la incapacidad de amar, manteniendo como característica común a las mujeres agrupadas en torno a Amelia la infelicidad. El equilibrio entra estos dos tipos de mujer lo encuentra Thackeray en Ethel, aunque hay que tener presente sus primeros esbozos en los personajes de Lady Jane y Laura. Así, si hemos comenzado anotando la preocupación de este autor victoriano por la situación de la mujer en la sociedad de su época, se debe concluir que el análisis detallado de la obra de este autor nos lleva a reafirmarlo como progresista y reformista respecta de la misma.

Por último, destacar que se han incluido dos apéndices. El primero de ellos contiene une tabla cronológica donde se destacan los hechos más relevantes de la vide de Thackeray, así como la fecha de publicación de sus novelas. El segundo contiene un breve repaso a las críticas que se he escrito sobre la obra de este autor (es interesante para ello ver la sección de la bibliografía dedicada a este tema), con el objetivo de demostrar la originalidad del tema de este trabajo.
The main aim of this thesis is to show the evolution that exists in W.M. Thackeray's treatment of women and marriage in his four main novels, that is to say in "Vanity Fair", "Pendennis", "Henry Esmond" and "The Newcomes". Women and marriage have been studied together because in Thackeray's novels marriage appears as the role of women in society and thus it seemed that both aspects should be regarded as a unique whole.

In these four novels it can be seen that, parallel to his search for an ideal gentleman, Thackeray was as well in pursuit of an ideal gentlewoman who he would find in Ethel Newcome. Thackeray created basically two types of women which may be grouped around the two central female characters in "Vanity Fair", that is to say Becky and Amelia. These two groups of women constitute in this way Thackeray's portrait of women at the beginning of the nineteenth century at the same time as a profound analysis of the nature of women and her role in society.

What Thackeray explores in his search for the ideal gentlewomen is one that he thought would adapt to the "new times" but that would nevertheless keep some traditional values among which "motherhood" is the one that he thought should be inherent to that ideal women.

From the thorough analysis of Thackeray's four main novels, the evolution in his creation of women characters until his creation of Ethel reveals his concern with both the nature of women and her role in society and thus points to his progressive attitude as reformer in his relation with the society of his time.

Dans une perspective plus large d'interrogation sur le journalisme litteraire tel qu'il se pratiquait au debut de l'epoque victorienne, cette etude s'attache au "cas" thackeray qui fut journaliste professionnel entre 1837 et 1847. Apres une evocation de la presse vers 1840, sont analyses les differents aspects de la carriere de thackeray, ainsi que le contenu de ses recits journalistiques (critique litteraire, critique d'art, critique gastronomique, recits de voyage, papiers d'observation social, parodies, etc. ) il apparait que thackeray, tout en restant tout a fait typique de son temps, a fortement contribue a rehausser le statut de journaliste litteraire. En annexe, ou trouvera une bibliographie complete de l'oeuvre journalistique de tackeray de 1828 (date de ses tout premiers ecrits) a 1848 (parution de vanity fair)
Within the larger framework of journalism in early victorian england , this study focuses on the case of thackeray who worked as a professional journalist from 1837 to 1847. After an analysis of the english press circa 1840, the various aspects of thackeray's career, as well as the content of his journalism (book and art reviews, gastronomic articles, travel writing, social criticism, parody, etc) are examined. It emerges that thackeray, although very typical of his time, contributed significantly to the professionalisation of journalists. A complete bibliography of thackeray's writings from 1828 (date of his first appearance in print) to 1848 (publication of vanity fair) completes the study

This thesis investigates the way that moral and aesthetic concerns about the relationship between fiction and reality are manifested in the work of particular novelists writing at different periods in the nineteenth century, Chapter One examines an early-century subgenre of the novel that features deluded female readers who fail to differentiate between fantasy and reality, and who consequently attempt to live their lives according to foolish precepts learned from novels. The second chapter deals with the realist aesthetic of W. M. Thackeray; focusing on the techniques by which his fiction marks its own relationship both to less realistic fiction and to reality itself. The final chapter discusses Oscar Wilde's critical stance that art is meaningful and intellectually satisfying, while reality and realism are aesthetically worthless: it then goes on the explore how these ideas play out in his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
iv, 120 leaves ; 28 cm.

This thesis is a study of rebellious child protagonists in Victorian bildungsroman. It discusses five novels ??? Jane Eyre, The Mill on the Floss, What Maisie Knew, Vanity Fair and Kim ??? that feature ???radical child??? protagonists who use indirect methods of narrative control to resist conservative models of character development. It argues that these novels form a subset of subversive English bildungsromane, which threaten the genre???s traditionally liberal values. Theories of narrative desire, reader seduction and discursive manipulation are used to reveal how the radical child in the Victorian bildungsroman takes command of the reader???s sympathy and gains power over the realist text, despite its physical and social powerlessness. Especially important is the presence of a fantasy counterplot, which coexists with, and ultimately undermines, the bildungsroman???s realistic surface narrative of successful socialisation. The counterplot allows radical child protagonists to develop in a non-linear manner that contradicts bourgeois ideals of stable progress. Focusing instead on sites of rupture between the individual and society, subversive bildungsromane resist both the dialectical model of character, which aims to harmoniously unite the protagonist with the realist world, and the dialogic model of interaction, which requires the restriction of personal liberty for the common good. This rebellious child in the Victorian bildungsroman thus represents an assault on the genre???s democratic ideals. Rejecting compromise, the radical child replaces the bildungsroman???s central ethic of interpersonal responsibility with an individualistic ethic of domination. Indeed, the thesis argues that the appeal of such child protagonistslies in their rejection of the obligatory, but anticlimactic, exchange of freedom for security that underpins the realist bildungsroman???s social contract, a rejection attractive to the reader precisely because it is unrealisable in reality. Finally, the thesis compares this radical child with the Gothic monster. While the monster is punished for its subversion, the radical child???s counterplot enables it to enact most of its subversive desires unpunished. The conservative English bildungsroman thus becomes a more effective way of representing asocial energies than the more obviously radical Gothic genre, which openly displays its anti-democratic sentiments.

This dissertation makes two arguments: First, it elaborates a depressive genealogy of the Victorian novel that asserts a category of realism rooted in affect rather than period or place. Second, it argues for a critical strategy called "depressive reading" that has unique purchase on this literary history. Drawing on Melanie Klein's "depressive position," the project asserts an alternative to novel theories that are rooted in sympathy and desire. By being attentive to mood and critical disposition, depressive reading homes in on the barely-contained negativities of realism. Through readings of novels by William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, and Charlotte Brontë, it explores feelings of ambivalence, soreness, and dislike as aesthetic responses and interpretations, as well as prompts to varieties of non-instrumentalist ethics. In the final chapter, the psychological and literary strategy of play emerges as a creative and scholarly possibility.

This dissertation considers the role of affective management in realist aesthetics and British imperial culture. Drawing on formalist analyses of English novels, nineteenth-century theories of emotion, and postcolonial accounts that identify the colonizer’s affective desensitization as the ground from which ongoing violence can be perpetrated, this study explores how domestic English novels developed new techniques for deflating the heightened feelings surrounding empire and distant intimacy. Through satires of sensibility, the replacement of epistolary style with impersonal omniscience, and newly dispassionate presentations of villains and protagonists alike, realist novelists explored affective restraint as at once a generic characteristic and an increasingly central element of British imperial and racial identities. This dissertation therefore argues, through readings of works by Jane Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot, and Joseph Conrad, for the deep influence of imperial culture on the realist novel’s distinguishing formal features. At the same time, it prompts critics to revisit longstanding accounts of the relationship between the novel and sympathy. Since the Victorian era, critics have readily understood the realist novel as concerned with the expansion of readers’ sympathies: this study reframes this important account by examining how the insistence on sympathy in novels often rerouted more turbulent reactions to empire’s dislocations—such as longing, desire for vengeance, and guilt—into cooler, more tractable feelings.

Chapter two shows how the growth of Britain’s market economy created as many problems of status as it solved, first by surveying the recurrent financial crises that punctuated the late-Romantic through the mid-Victorian period. Against this cyclical pattern of boom and bust, it then matches William Makepeace Thackeray’s The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond (1841), Dickens’s Dombey and Son (1848), Charles Reade’s Hard Cash (1863), and Trollope’s The Way We Live Now (1875) with William North’s The City of the Jugglers (1851) to show the wariness with which middle-class writers approached Weber’s “‘naked’ money power” as a source of public authority. Ultimately, North proposes poetic genius, of the sort described in Shelley’s posthumous “Defence of Poetry” (1839), as a cure for money-grubbing and a warrant for social status, even as he worries, with good reason, that his novel will fail to attract enough readers to legitimize either his social analysis or his personal genius.