:

Author: (English) Sacre Gao Yuqi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Sacre advocated for novels to strive for realism, which differed from the prevailing writing conventions of the time. Therefore, he wrote The Novel of the Name and Family (1847), imitating and mocking several popular novels. Vanity Fair broke many of the conventional norms of writing novels at the time. Vanity Fair is Sacre's masterpiece, which he began publishing in the Ben Zhuo magazine starting in 1847, with a subtitle of A Novel Without Heroes. It does not feature an outstanding hero as its main character, nor does it have many positive figures. The female protagonist, Becky Sharp, is the daughter of a poor painter. Without parents, she faces discrimination at school and feels indignant. After leaving school, she begins to make a living through speculation. Relying on her beauty and wit, she uses any means necessary to earn money and aims to enter high society.