A classic, set during the Napoleonic wars, giving a satiricl picture of a worldly society and revolving around the exploits of two women from very different backgrounds.A marvelous, incisive social satire that gleefully exposes the greed and corruption raging in England during the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars through its tracing of the changing fortunes of two unforgettable women. It is a comic masterpiece that still resonates today.Re-reading Vanity Fair, one realises what a brilliant innovation this was in the English novel,remarked V. S. Pritchett. Thackeray is like the modern novelists who derive from James and Proust, in his power of dissecting (and of desiccating!) character. Generally considered to be his masterpiece, Vanity Fair is Thackeray's resplendent social satire that exposes the greed and corruption raging in England during the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars. Subtitled A Novel Without a Hero, it traces the changing fortunes of two unforgettable women: the scheming opportunist Becky Sharp one of literature's most resourceful, engaging, and amoral heroines and her foil, the faithful, naive Amelia Sedley. Thackeray's subversive, comic attack on the hypocrisy and dismal roguery of an avaricious world resonates 150 years later with implications for our own times. Thackeray is an urbane nineteenth-century guide and commentator in a portrait gallery that is for all time,observed Louis Auchincloss. He is the restless inhabitant of a prudish age, nostalgic, discursive, anecdotal, sentimental, worldly-wise, now warning us, now making fun of us, now reproving us .... Thackeray's harshest criticism of humanity is simply the point where ours commences. His perception of self-interest in every act is the ABC of modem psychology.Since 1917 The Modern Library prides itself as The modern Library of the world s Best Books . Featuring introductions by leading writers, stunning translations, scholarly endnotes and reading group guides. Production values emphasize superior quality and readability. Competitive prices, coupled with exciting cover design make these an ideal gift to be cherished by the avid reader.

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"I do not say there is no character as well drawn in Shakespeare [as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly."
--Robert Louis Stevenson

"The lasting and universal popularity of The Three Musketeers shows that Dumas, by artlessly expressing his own nature in the persons of his heroes, was responding to that craving for action, strength and generosity which is a fact in all periods and all places."
--Andre� Maurois

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