Vanity Fair

Author(s)

• William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like many novels of the time, Vanity Fair was published as a serial before being sold in book form; it was printed in 20 monthly parts between January 1847 and July 1848.

Thackeray meant the book to be not only entertaining but also instructive; this is shown both by the narrator of the book and in Thackeray's private correspondence. The novel is now remembered as a classic of English literature, though some critics claim that it has structural problems; Thackeray sometimes lost track of the huge scope of his work, mixing up characters' names and minor plot details. The number of allusions and references it contains can make it difficult for modern readers to follow.

1. Chiswick Mall
2. In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign
3. Rebecca is in Presence of the Enemy
4. The Green Silk Purse
5. Dobbin of Ours
6. Vauxhall
7. Crawley of Queen’s Crawley
8. Private and Confidential
9. Family Portraits
10. Miss Sharp Begins To Make Friends
11. Arcadian Simplicity
12. Quite a Sentimental Chapter
13. Sentimental and Otherwise
14. Miss Crawley at Home
15. In Which Rebecca’s Husband Appears for a Short Time
16. The Letter on the Pincushion
17. How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano
18. Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought
19. Miss Crawley at Nurse
20. In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen
21. A Quarrel About an Heiress
22. A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon
23. Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass
24. In Which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible
25. In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton
26. Between London and Chatham
27. In Which Amelia Joins Her Regiment
28. In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries
29. Brussels
30. The Girl I Left Behind Me
31. In Which Jos Sedley Takes Care of His Sister
32. In Which Jos Takes Flight, and the War Is Brought to a Close
33. In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her
34. James Crawley’s Pipe is Put Out
35. Widow and Mother
36. How to Live Well on Nothing a Year
37. The Subject Continued
38. A Family in a Very Small Way
39. A Cynical Chapter
40. In Which Becky Is Recognized by the Family
41. In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors
42. Which Treats of the Osborne Family
43. In Which the Reader has to Double the Cape
44. A Round-about Chapter between London and Hampshire
45. Between Hampshire and London
46. Struggles and Trials
47. Gaunt House
48. In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company
49. In Which we Enjoy Three Courses and a Desert
50. Contains a Vulgar Incident
51. In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader
52. In Which Lord Steyne Shows Himself In A Most Amiable Light
53. A Rescue And A Catastrophe
54. Sunday After the Battle
55. In Which the Same Subject is Pursued
56. Georgy is Made a Gentleman
57. Eothen
58. Our Friend the Major
59. The Old Piano
60. Returns to the Genteel World
61. In Which Two Lights Are Put Out
62. Am Rhein
63. In Which We Meet An Old Acquaintance
64. A Vagabond Chapter
65. Full of Business and Pleasure
66. Amantium Irae
67. Which Contains Births, Marriages, and Deaths