William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) was born in Calcutta, India, to a British colonial family. After his father’s death, he was sent to England for education, attending Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, though he left without a degree. He initially pursued law and then art, but found his true calling in journalism and fiction. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair (1847–48), a satirical masterpiece subtitled 'A Novel Without a Hero,' which skewers the ambitions and hypocrisies of early 19th-century English society through the cunning anti-heroine Becky Sharp. Other major works include Pendennis, Henry Esmond, and The Newcomes. Thackeray’s narrative voice—wry, conversational, and morally complex—set him apart from contemporaries. He also edited the Cornhill Magazine. His legacy endures as a keen observer of human folly and a master of social satire.