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Important works: Thackeray's major novels soon brought him fame in his day. He has continued to be admired for his powers of construction, the rich veins of comedy and drama in his work, his rejection of melodrama and coincidence in favour of events that arise more naturally out of the characters' motivations, and his skill at creating convincing dialogue. His first major novel, Vanity Fair, was published in instalments beginning in 1874. Thackeray illustrated the novel himself. Its theme of human vanity and weakness is also found in his other major novels: Pendennis (1848-50), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853-5). Education and background: William Makepeace Thackeray was born on 18 July 1811, near Calcutta, where his father, like Jos Sedley in Vanity Fair, was an employee of the East India Company. His father died when he was three. An only child, 'Billy Boy' was adored by his mother and their native servants. He was sent 'home' to England, aged five and a half, for the benefits of the English climate and education system, but this was a traumatic event which Thackeray recalled to the end of his life. On arrival in England, Thackeray was first sent briefly to Chiswick Mall, later to provide the model for Miss Pinkerton's Academy in Vanity Fair . Now six years old, he proceeded to a boarding school in Southampton run by a "horrible little tyrant". He went on to Charterhouse in the City of London - which he called "Slaughterhouse" because of its proximity to Smithfield Market, and the school's brutal regime. A fight there resulted in the broken nose about which he remained sensitive throughout his life. The school did little to foster a love of scholarship in him, but he read avidly, enjoying tales of adventure, not "love or talking or any of that nonsense". He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he launched and contributed to another periodical, The Snob . With little taste for formal education, he left without a degree and went to Paris to study painting. Thackeray trained for the Bar but never practised as a barrister. He began a career in journalism by taking on the proprietorship of a sinking weekly newspaper, The National Standard, in 1833. The venture failed a year later but the experience provided an invaluable literary apprenticeship, for many of the contributions were Thackeray's own. As a young married man he wrote for various periodicals, including Punch, to support his family. During the 1840s he gained popularity as a writer with works such as The Paris Sketch Book and his work for Punch. Gentle, girlish Isabella, whom he married in 1836, became increasingly dependent on him until she suffered a complete mental breakdown in 1840. She had to be placed permanently under the care of a doctor, then in a private home. Jane Brookfield, the wife of a friend, inspired Thackeray's devotion and passion but, despite her unhappy marriage, remained unattainable. He had three daughters, one who died as a baby. His daughters came to live permanently with him in London when they were nine and six. Annie, the eldest, fondly remembered how "we seemed to live with him". http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/arts/books/author/thackeray/index.shtml |