Vanity Fairby William Makepeace Thackeray
With tongue-in-chic and cheeky chutzpuh, Becky Sharp was the Madonna of her day, flaunting tradition and challenging hypocritical sexual mores. And what a survivor. After the nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are a couple of cockroaches and Becky. Okay, she had a few minor faults – snobbery and sexual kleptomania (Becky climbed the social ladder – lad by lad); husband-hunting ( she wasn’t interested in Mr Right, but Lord, Sir, Marquis, at the very least!) …..But we’re talking 1810. With no vote, no union, no fixed wage, no welfare, no contraception ……..what options were available to women? Apart from factory work, being a governess or doing domestic service, it was prostitution or marriage. (Often a tautology in those days.)
The razor-sharp satire ofVanity Fairis as topical and relevant today as ever. A tour de farce.
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