Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero

William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1847-1848, is a satirical and panoramic novel that provides a biting critique of 19th-century British society. The book is often regarded as Thackeray's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels in English literature. Its full title — A Novel Without a Hero — reflects Thackeray's intention to depict a world without a traditional, heroic protagonist, instead focusing on a wide array of characters, many of whom are deeply flawed.

Table of contents

• Titlepage
• Table of Contents
• Before the Curtain
• I: Chiswick Mall
• II: In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign
• III: Rebecca Is in Presence of the Enemy
• IV: The Green Silk Purse
• V: Dobbin of Ours
• VI: Vauxhall
• VII: Crawley of Queen’s Crawley
• VIII: Private and Confidential
• IX: Family Portraits
• X: Miss Sharp Begins to Make Friends
• XI: Arcadian Simplicity
• XII: Quite a Sentimental Chapter
• XIII: Sentimental and Otherwise
• XIV: Miss Crawley at Home
• XV: In Which Rebecca’s Husband Appears for a Short Time
• XVI: The Letter on the Pincushion
• XVII: How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano
• XVIII: Who Played on the Piano Captain Dobbin Bought
• XIX: Miss Crawley at Nurse
• XX: In Which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen
• XXI: A Quarrel About an Heiress
• XXII: A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon
• XXIII: Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass
• XXIV: In Which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible
• XXV: In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton
• XXVI: Between London and Chatham
• XXVII: In Which Amelia Joins Her Regiment
• XXVIII: In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries
• XXIX: Brussels
• XXX: “The Girl I Left Behind Me”
• XXXI: In Which Jos Sedley Takes Care of His Sister
• XXXII: In Which Jos Takes Flight, and the War Is Brought to a Close
• XXXIII: In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her
• XXXIV: James Crawley’s Pipe Is Put Out
• XXXV: Widow and Mother
• XXXVI: How to Live Well on Nothing a Year
• XXXVII: The Subject Continued
• XXXVIII: A Family in a Very Small Way
• XXXIX: A Cynical Chapter
• XL: In Which Becky Is Recognized by the Family
• XLI: In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors
• XLII: Which Treats of the Osborne Family
• XLIII: In Which the Reader Has to Double the Cape
• XLIV: A Roundabout Chapter Between London and Hampshire
• XLV: Between Hampshire and London
• XLVI: Struggles and Trials
• XLVII: Gaunt House
• XLVIII: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company
• XLIX: In Which We Enjoy Three Courses and a Dessert
• L: Contains a Vulgar Incident
• LI: In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader
• LII: In Which Lord Steyne Shows Himself in a Most Amiable Light
• LIII: A Rescue and a Catastrophe
• LIV: Sunday After the Battle
• LV: In Which the Same Subject Is Pursued
• LVI: Georgy Is Made a Gentleman
• LVII: Eothen
• LVIII: Our Friend the Major
• LIX: The Old Piano
• LX: Returns to the Genteel World
• LXI: In Which Two Lights Are Put Out
• LXII: Am Rhein
• LXIII: In Which We Meet an Old Acquaintance
• LXIV: A Vagabond Chapter
• LXV: Full of Business and Pleasure
• LXVI: Amantium Irae
• LXVII: Which Contains Births, Marriages, and Deaths