This book conveys Thackeray's development as a book reviewer, journalist, art exhibition critic, short-story writer, satirical essayist and novelist a development that culminates in the creation of his masterpiece, Vanity Fair one of the glories of English imaginative writing. Articulating the connections between these vigorous and lively youthful works, and the growth of Thackeray as an increasingly profound participant observer, Harden reveals the exuberant imaginative growth and deepening understanding of a supremely perceptive critic of human social life.