THACKERAY'S GREATNESS
Sir,-Ass a life-long admirer of. Thackeray, may I say how pleased I was to read the review of Thackeray, the Novelist, by Geoffrey Tillotson-pleased with author and reviewer? Of recent vears the new psychological criticism, with its detailed examination of temperament and relations with others, has been applied to Thackeray in England, and the result has been, in the operators’ eyes, to whittle away a good deal of his stature. (And, going back, I may recall
Saintsbury’s remark that critics could not forgive Arthur Pendennis for not seducing Fanny.) Dickens has gone through a similar and more elaborate examination, but it does not seem to have affected his ranking on his popularity. Granted that Thackeray is the lesser genius, he has enough of that endowment to stand any analysis of his inhibitions and frustrations, and cataloguing of his faults. Your reviewer says some critics find him shallow, and see "no evidence of social conscience." This is a strange finding about the author of The Book of Snobs, the most formidable frontal attack ever delivered on the most besetting English sin. When Matthew Arnold remarked to a Japanese student visiting England that he could scarcely be expected to know Fhe Book of Snobs, the Japanese replied: "Why, Mr. Arnold, it was that book, that first gave me an insight into the English character." The Book of Snobs strixes me as the one Dickensian book Thackeray wrote. Elsewhere his criticism of the social scene is subtle and oblique. But are we to suppose that the creator of the Marquis of Steyne, Major Pendennis, Rawdon Crawley, the elder Osborne, and Barnes iJewcome. wa. $.tisfied with that world? However, as your reviewer says, it is the artist that matters. Think of Thackeray’s range of characters, of such scenes as the unsurpassed openings of Pendennis and The Newcomes, Rawdon Crawley’s return from the debtors’ prison, and the Waterloo chapters. Consider also his style, which to my mind is not equalled for clarity and grace by anv other English novelist.
A.
M.
. (Wellington).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550422.2.12.12
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 821, 22 April 1955, Page 25
Word count
Tapeke kupu
339THACKERAY'S GREATNESS New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 821, 22 April 1955, Page 25
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in