Thackeray: The Life of a Literary Man - Hardcover

Taylor, D. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786709103 ISBN 13: 9780786709106

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub, 2001

Synopsis

A portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray details his life, from his turbulent Anglo-Indian childhood to his calamitous marriage to Isabelle Shaw, and explores his many complexities that made him one of the most prominent literary figures in Victorian London.

About this title

Review:

It could be argued that the best biographies are written by novelists: Ackroyd's Dickens would be the classic example. Taylor is a deft if underrated novelist (his Trespass is particularly absorbing), who has also written a number of good critical studies of the contemporary novel. Tackling a topic as major as Thackeray is a bold move and one that takes him out of his usual arena. But he pulls it off with spectacular aplomb; it is hard to see how this could have been done better.

Everything about this book is just right: from the Thackerayan illustrated initial letters that decorate each chapter opening, to the fluid intelligent tone, and the broad grasp of subject. Taylor points out that, from a biographer's point of view, Thackeray presents an "elusive, or even protean" character; a function of the vigorous compartmentalisation that he undertook in his life.

However, Taylor provides a convincing a sense of him. His wife confined to an insane asylum, he fell in love with Jane Brookfield, the wife of a friend; a passion which lasted throughout his life, which cost him his friendship and which brought him a great deal of melancholy as well as joy. Taylor is particularly touching in the latter part of his biography, sketching in this unfulfilled love affair.

His accounts of the novels are good too; and he pauses at moments in the chronological flow to ponder questions such as "Why Thackeray Matters?" The greatest praise of this fine biography is that you come away in no doubt that Thackeray matters a great deal. --Adam Roberts

Review:

`Taylor's awareness of the task of biography is just one of the many delights of this fond, yet not overly reverent account.' --Independent on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786709103
• ISBN 13: 9780786709106
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 494