Many a reader who will reject
Swift's portrait of man as a libel, cannot but feel a twinge at
Thackeray's delicate pencillings. After dwelling on the worldliness,
the hypocrisy, the self-seeking of the inmates of Queen's Crawley, how
softly but how terribly he scourges them! "These honest folks at the
Hall, whose simplicity and sweet rural purity surely show the advantage
of a country life over a town one." His praise is the severest cut of
all. "Dear Rebecca," "the dear creature," and we wince for Becky. "What
a dignity it gives an old lady, that balance at the banker's! How
tenderly we look at her faults, if she be a relative." "These money
transactions, these speculations in life and death--these silent
battles for reversionary spoil--make brothers very loving toward each
other in Vanity Fair."
Thackeray is the novelist whose works depend in the least degree on
narrative interest. The characters are so clearly drawn and so
interesting, the manner of Thackeray's writing is so uniformly
entertaining, that his books can always be opened at random and read
with pleasure. "Henry Esmond" is the only novel in which the plot is
carefully constructed. The others are a string of consecutive chapters,
each one of which possesses its individual interest.[208]
The novel of English life and manners includes many subdivisions.
Pages:
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401