&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RVanity Fair&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RWilliam Makepeace Thackeray&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R: &&LDIV&&R

• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
• Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/I&&Rpulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R"I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year," observes beautiful and clever Becky Sharp, one of the wickedest--and most appealing--women in all of literature. Becky is just one of the many fascinating figures that populate &&LB&&RWilliam Makepeace Thackeray&&L/B&&R's novel &&LI&&RVanity Fair&&L/I&&R, a wonderfully satirical panorama of upper-middle-class life and manners in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. &&LP&&RScorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London's ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt's dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky's misguided sexual entanglements. &&L/P&&R&&LP&&RFilled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, &&LI&&RVanity Fair&&L/I&&R is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, "Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?" &&L/P&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LB&&RFeatures more than 100 illustrations drawn by Thackeray himself for the initial publication.&&L/B&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R&&LSTRONG&&RNicholas Dames&&L/B&&R&&L/B&&R is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, and is the author of &&LI&&RAmnesiac Selves: Nostalgia, Forgetting, and British Fiction, 1810-1870&&L/I&&R, and other commentary on nineteenth-century British and French fiction.&&L/P&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R