The History of Pendennis

Nov 9, 2025 7:07 PM

Author:J I M Stewart,William Makepeace Thackeray

Written immediately after Vanity Fair, Pendennis has a similar atmosphere of brooding disillusion, tempered by the most jovial of wits. But here Thackeray plunders his own past to create the character of Pendennis and the world in which he lives: from miserable schoolboy to striving journalist, from carefree Oxbridge to the high (and low) life of London. The result is a superbly panoramic blend of people, action and background. The true ebb and flow of life is caught and the credibility of Pen, his worldly uncle, the Major, and many of the other characters, extends far beyond the pages of the novel. Held together by Thackeray's flowing, confident prose, with its conversational ease of tone, Pendennis is as rich a portrait of England in the 1830s and 40s as it is a thorough and thoroughly entertaining self-portrait.

Reviews

Anne McCaffrey, one of the queens of science fiction, knows exactly how to give her public what it wants

—— The Times

'Her book is lifted...into the rare company of those that linger in the mind long after dramas, sagas and sophisticated frolics have coalesced into a blur of half-forgotten fiction'

—— Bookman

'There is humour as well as tragedy in this book, besides its faint note of hope for human nature; and it is delightfully written in the now familiar Southern tradition'

—— Sunday Times

Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable

—— Truman Capote

There is humour as well as tragedy in this book, besides its faint note of hope for human nature; and it is delightfully written in the now familiar Southern tradition

—— Sunday Times

Her book is lifted...into the rare company of those that linger in the memory...

—— Bookman

No one ever forgets this book

—— Independent

Previous Article：Lucia Victrix Next Article：Friends And Other Enemies

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.