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July 2011 BOTM: The History of Henry Esmond Esq. by William Makepeace Thackeray

A monthly discussion on varying themes guided by our members. (Book of the Month discussions through December 2011 can be found in this section too.)
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boswellbaxter
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July 2011 BOTM: The History of Henry Esmond Esq. by William Makepeace Thackeray

Post by boswellbaxter » Fri July 1st, 2011, 1:02 pm

Please discuss The History of Henry Esmond Esq. by William Makepeace Thackeray here.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Mon July 4th, 2011, 12:22 am

I find it so interesting that today Thackeray is remembered above all for Vanity Fair whereas in his own day Henry Esmond was his most famous novel. In fact it made the reign of Queen Anne so popular that it gave a name to the Queen Anne Revival style, which was intended to imitate the styles of Queen Anne's day but actually was pretty eclectic.

I've had the book out from the library quite a few times but have never managed to get very far with it. Partly because of the long detailed family history at the start of the book which I always get lost in and partly because something feels wrong about the style - it's a memoir so just as limited as a first person book, but written (mostly) in the third person. It feels less personal and less engaging than David Copperfield or Great Expectations, at least to begin with. But John Sutherland did a great piece on it for his literary detective series that made me think I really must make the effort to get further than the opening chapters!

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