Vanity Fair

Credits and rights

Original writer

William Makepeace Thackeray

Publisher of this edition

BoingyBooks Classics

Original publisher

Project Gutenberg

Adaptation credits

John Shoufler / BoingyBooks Classics — digital edition

Original source / edition

Vanity Fair (1848)

License

Public Domain

License link

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Rights and adaptation notice

This work is in the public domain. John Shoufler published this digital edition through BoingyBooks Classics. The original work remains public domain and may be copied, adapted, and shared.

Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero by William Makepeace Thackeray (1848)

The contrasting fortunes of sweet, passive Amelia Sedley and brilliant, ruthless Becky Sharp as they navigate Regency-era English society. Thackeray's satirical masterpiece — "a novel without a hero" because everyone is flawed.

Historical Significance:
Serialized in 20 monthly parts from January 1847 to July 1848, Vanity Fair was Thackeray's bid to rival Dickens as England's greatest novelist. Where Dickens created lovable heroes and hissable villains, Thackeray created morally ambiguous characters in a corrupt world. Becky Sharp — witty, amoral, irresistibly charming — is one of literature's great anti-heroines. The title comes from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, where Vanity Fair is a marketplace of worldly temptations. The novel has been adapted numerous times, including a 2004 film starring Reese Witherspoon.

This public domain classic was originally published in 1848. Free to read and share.