William Makepeace Thackeray
1811–1863
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William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta and educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, but lost his inheritance to gambling and bad investments — an experience that sharpened his lifelong satire of snobs, climbers and the money-grubbing middle class. He began as a caricaturist and journalist, sharpening his pen on the pretensions of the age.
Vanity Fair (serialized 1847–48), subtitled "A Novel without a Hero," was his revenge and his triumph: the story of the brilliant, amoral Becky Sharp clawing her way through Regency society. Its success made Thackeray Dickens's only real rival for the title of the age's greatest novelist — the two men circled each other with mutual wariness and occasional open quarrel.
He followed it with The History of Henry Esmond (1852) and The Newcomes (1853–55), and became the first editor of the Cornhill Magazine in 1860. He died in 1863 and was buried at Kensal Green, mourned as the satirist who had anatomized his own class.
Frequently asked
Who is Becky Sharp?
Becky Sharp is the brilliant, amoral heroine of Thackeray's Vanity Fair (serialized 1847–48) — a penniless governess who claws her way through Regency society, and one of fiction's great anti-heroines.
Why was Vanity Fair called "A Novel without a Hero"?
It was Thackeray's subtitle: his satire shows a society of snobs, climbers and schemers where no character is entirely admirable — the point being that Vanity Fair itself, the world of fashion and money, is the real subject.
Were Thackeray and Dickens friends?
Rivals, warily. Vanity Fair's success made Thackeray Dickens's only real challenger for the title of the age's greatest novelist, and the two circled each other with mutual admiration and occasional open quarrel.
Why it matters today
Thackeray's clear-eyed satire of social climbing — and Becky Sharp, the original anti-heroine — set the template for every novel and prestige drama about ambition, status and the price of getting ahead.
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