- 240 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
About this book
At Vanity Fair tells the story of Bunyan's powerful metaphor, exploring how Vanity Fair was transformed from an emblem of sin and persecution into a showcase for celebrity, wealth and power. This literary history, focusing on reception, adaptation and influence, traces the fictional representation of Vanity Fair over three centuries from John Bunyan's masterpiece, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), to William Makepeace Thackeray's own Vanity Fair (1847–8). It explores the influence of anonymous journalists and booksellers alongside well-known authors including Ben Jonson, Samuel Richardson and Thomas Carlyle. Over time, Bunyan's dystopian fantasy has been altered and repurposed to characterise consumer capitalism, channelling memories that inform and unsettle modern hedonism. By tracking the idea of 'Vanity Fair' against this shifting background, the book illuminates the relationship between the individual and the collective imagination, between what is culturally available and what is creatively impelled.
Trusted by 375,005 students
Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.
Study more efficiently using our study tools.
Information
Table of contents
- Half title
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and conventions
- Introduction: The boy at the Royal Exchange
- 1 ‘Copying from life’: The literal and the literary in Bunyan’s Vanity Fair
- 2 Reforming Bartholomew Fair: Bunyan, Jonson and the transmission of a trope
- 3 ‘More moderate now than formerly’: Re-writing Vanity Fair, 1684–1700
- 4 ‘Gay ideas of Vanity-Fair’: Transforming Bunyan in the eighteenth century
- 5 ‘Manager of the Performance’: Thackeray’s Vanity Fair
- Conclusion: The Fair in vogue
- Afterword
- Appendices
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn how to download books offline
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.5M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1.5 million books across 990+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn about our mission
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more about Read Aloud
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS and Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Yes, you can access At Vanity Fair by Kirsty Milne in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & English Literary Criticism. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.