William Makepeace Thackeray – 19th-century English novelist, author of Vanity Fair. His prose satirised Victorian society, exposing hypocrisy and ambition. Regarded as Dickens’s main rival, his ironic style significantly shaped the English novel’s development.
📖 Vanity Fair (1847–1848) carried the subtitle “a novel without a hero” – innovative for its time. 🖋️ Famous for irony and directly addressing the reader. 📰 Worked as a journalist and caricaturist, illustrating many of his own books. 🎭 His characters were “ordinary flawed people” rather than romanticised heroes. 📚 Also wrote historical novels, including Esmond. 🌍 Travelled widely in Europe, living in Paris and Weimar, meeting Goethe. 🏛️ Delivered lectures on English literature in the U.S., earning great popularity. 😲 Curious fact: published under many pseudonyms – from “Miles Blandish” to “Mr. Brown.” 😄 Funny fact: enjoyed cooking and surprising friends, even Dickens, with his homemade dishes.