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