William Makepeace Thackeray

Dos heroínas navegan la clase alta del siglo XIX en esta novela, un ataque satírico directo al corazón de una sociedad loca por el dinero. Introducción de John Carey, catedrático emérito de la Universidad de Oxford Traduccion de Alfonso Nadal En el recinto de la Feria se erige suntuoso uno de los mejores retratos de la sociedad inglesa de principios del siglo XIX, cuyo director de escena de mirada desencantada no es otro que William M. Thackeray, maestro en el arte de crear personajes femeninos. Asi, pronto veremos pisar el escenario a dos mujeres inolvidables: la dulce y apocada Amelia Sedley y la inteligente y ambiciosa Becky Sharp cobran vida en un juego fascinante, lleno de trampas y de emocion con las Guerras Napoleonicas como trasfondo, en una obra magistral de la literatura de todos los tiempos: La feria de las vanidades. La clasica traduccion que en su dia realizara Alfonso Nadal viene precedida en la presente edicion por un esclarecedor estudio introductorio. Lo firma John Carey, catedratico emerito de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Oxford y critico literario de renombre indiscutible.

Una de las grandes novelas del XIX inglés, adaptada al cine en 1975 por Stanley Kubrick. Traducción de Ana Nuño López Introducción de Andrew Sanders, profesor emérito de la Universidad de Durham Barry Lyndon narra el ascenso y caida de una ambicion desmesurada: la de Redmond Barry, un joven irlandes decidido a convertirse en un hombre rico e importante. Hipocrita y vanidoso, usa todos sus ardides para escalar en el mundo social del siglo XVIII, hasta alcanzar la cuspide al casarse con lady Lyndon, la joven viuda de un acaudalado conde. Sera entonces, sin embargo, cuando descubrira que, tras subir la montaña, solo queda bajarla. La primera novela de Thackeray es una fantastica fabula a la que se han dedicado innumerables estudios. Entre ellos se cuenta el de Andrew Sanders, autor de la brillante introduccion que precede a la obra, traducida aqui por la poeta y periodista Ana Nuño.Charlotte Bronte dijo...Cuanto mas leo la obra de Thackeray, mas convencida estoy de su singularidad: es unico en su sagacidad, unico en su veracidad, unico en su sensibilidad... Thackeray es un titan.

El 15 de junio de 1812 dos jóvenes señoritas, Amelia Sedley y Rebecca Sharp, terminan su educación en la escuela de la señorita Pinkerton en Chiswick Mall. Desde el primer capítulo queda esbozado el caracter de ambas heroinas: Amelia (hija de un agente de bolsa), dulce, modosa, conforme con su destino; Rebecca (huerfana de un pintor del Soho y una corista francesa), arisca, con pocos miramientos, nunca conforme con nada. Enfrentadas las dos, en todo caso, a los azares de la vida, del amor y de la historia el regreso de Napoleon y la batalla de Waterloo, que afecta, mas a que a nadie, a los no combatientes, ninguna de ellas escapara a la necesidad de sobreponerse a los reveses y a la adversidad.

William Makepeace Thackeray nació en Calcuta, en 1811, lo que le convierte en el primer novelista inglés que procede del imperio colonial británico. El trasfondo social de "La feria de las vanidades" viene determinado por el periodo de la Regencia y por la veloz transicion hacia la era victoriana, es decir, un mundo en rapida transformacion cuya fluidez constituye un desafio a los valores tradicionales. La novela puede verse como la cronica de una nacion en fuga hacia la modernidad, asi como un intento por encontrar sentido a las nuevas condiciones sociales.

As the manager of the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards and looks into the Fair, a feeling of profound melancholy comes over him in his survey of the bustling place. There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the contrary, smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing and fiddling; there are bullies pushing about, bucks ogling the women, knaves picking pockets, policemen on the look-out, quacks (OTHER quacks, plague take them!) bawling in front of their booths, and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind. Yes, this is VANITY FAIR; not a moral place certainly; nor a merry one, though very noisy. Look at the faces of the actors and buffoons when they come off from their business; and Tom Fool washing the paint off his cheeks before he sits down to dinner with his wife and the little Jack Puddings behind the canvas. The curtain will be up presently, and he will be turning over head and heels, and crying, "How are you?"

Barry Lyndonfar from the best known, but by some critics acclaimed as the finest, of Thackerays worksappeared originally as a serial a few years before VANITY FAIR was written; yet it was not published in book form, and then not by itself, until after the publication of VANITY FAIR, PENDENNIS, ESMOND and THE NEWCOMES had placed its author in the forefront of the literary men of the day. So many years after the event we cannot help wondering why the story was not earlier put in book form; for in its delineation of the character of an adventurer it is as great as VANITY FAIR, while for the local colour of history, if I may put it so, it is no undistinguished precursor of ESMOND.

Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 184748, satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. The books title comes from John Bunyans allegorical story The Pilgrims Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackerays novel. Vanity fair refers to a stop along the pilgrims progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent mans sinful attachment to worldly things. The novel is now considered a classic, and has inspired several film adaptations.

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Becky Sharp is a poor orphan when she first makes friends with the lovely Amelia Sedley at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies She may not have the natural advantages of her companion but she more than makes up for it with her wit, charm, deviousness and determination to make a success of herself whatever the cost...

William Thackeray Retold by James Butler Activities by Kenneth Brodey Human interest Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp are two friends. Amelia comes from a wealthy family but her father is made bankrupt. She marries George Osborne, a vain and shallow young man who does not really love her. Becky Sharp, on the other hand, comes from a penniless family, and is determined to use her beauty and charm to find a good position in life. Dossiers: Thackeray and Waterloo A Critic''s Assessment of Vanity Fair Exit test

A Novel Without a Hero is an unparalleled satire of 19th Century British Society, written by William Makepeace Thackeray and originally published in serial format from 1847 to 1848. Meet the charming and cunning Becky Sharp, insinuating upward through the social ranks with the fervor of Napoleon plowing through Europe, and the subtlety of a butterfly. More so than any other picaresque character, Becky Sharp's name has become synonymous with a gold-digging, amoral, opportunistic social charmer who is also shrewd and strong - a portrait of a complex woman of her time. She is the anti-heroine you love to hate, and yet at the same time cannot help but secretly admire her methods.