Classics Club Thackeray The History of Henry Esmond

This book has been called the greatest historical novel ever and I would agree that it is a really good book. The writing is clear, lively and beautiful, full of color. This is the first time I've read Thackeray and I really admire his prose. Like all novels that are close to 515 pages, the novel has some slow points, such as during some of the the military battles Esmond is involved in; or in the last part of the conflict between Francis Esmond the edler and Lord Mohun which is rather melodramatic. Sometimes the prose does get slightly unclear. The first few pages of the novel are rather unintelligible; I think Thackeray here was trying to make fun of the vapidly pompous storytelling of other writers of his age. Thackeray then indulges in some very confusing discussion of the family tree of Henry Esmond, but after this the story overall is pretty easy to follow and is full of some very interesting characters, Henry Esmond most of all. Don't worry about trying to grasp the particulars about who is related to who. Thackeray throws at the reader a great deal of names and aristocratic titles and it might be hard for the reader to understand exactly who is who. Perhaps an introduction attached to the book would be useful for the reader to give a basic history of the noblemen and kings and princes whom this story portrays from late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Englund. This would have made the reading for me a little bit easier. The central event driving the turmoil described in this book was the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when one Dutch Protestant faction of the British royal family invaded and overthrew James II who had given legal equality to the Catholic religion (or something). But overall the story of this book flows very nicely and gives the reader a more realistic look than others might of British aristocrats during the period. A great many of the aristocrats portrayed here are dissolute, irresponsible and even brutish. John Churchill AKA the Duke of Marlborough is portrayed as somebody who while very brave in battle, will screw anyone high and low to advance his own material resources and has ever changing loyalty to anyone who will give him such resources, no matter what different political party or even enemy of Britain that might be. Esmond while engaging in pious rhetoric about military valor, mentions his disgust and alienation from the jingoist spirit in that that the battles in France and Germany he was involved in, usually ended with British troops engaging in rape and pillage, burning whole villages and crops, terrorizing helpless women and children, etc. One of the elector princes hanging out in France, was in line to become James III (or whatever number it was) if his sister Queen Anne would make peace with him and designate him as her successor. The whole Esmond family piously worships this elector but finds out when they smuggle him back into England that he is really a rather disgusting, vapid fellow. Esmon

The History of Henry Esmond begins with the sweet Lady Castlewood stumbling upon the lonely abandoned Henry as she tours her new home. Her husband has inherited the estate and his illegitimate 11-year old cousin Henry, is fearful of the reception he will receive from the new owners. Will they throw him out? Treat him like a servant? When they instead embrace him into their family (which includes their daughter Beatrix and son Frank) he is overjoyed. What he slowly begins to realize (as he first becomes their almost-son, and later the de facto head of the household) is that this blessing is more complex than it first appears.Throughout the book, Henry longs for a family, and although he is a part of the Castlewood's, he is also always an outsider. They come to rely on him because they know he will sacrifice more for them then any real son or brother ever would. With every page, the Castlewood family becomes increasingly complex - some relationships are strengthened and some are slowly destroyed in such subtle ways that when a catastrophe comes, it seems inevitable, and at the same time, surprising. True motives are hidden and twisted and everybody longs for a kind of love not given. Through it all, we have Henry's narration (although he speaks of himself in the third person), which casts a lonely and reflective tone over all the events. A beautiful book.

Although for some reason forgotten by the US public, "The History of Henry Esmond" is one of the finest books ever written in English language. May be it has lost its luster because it offers no excess of blood-spilling and sexual adventures, but instead finds its way to describe the deepest and most vulnerable chambers of the human heart. I have read a handful of books, be it in English, French, German or Russian, that described the human strengths and weaknesses while tying them to a character one can relate to with such skill. People who do not like it, it seems, are just shamed by the morals offered in such a book, and are quick to forget it. I read "Henry Esmond" when I was a young boy, and now, half a century later, it hasn't lost a beat.

In the minds of some, justifiably the finest novel in the English language. The neglect this novel has suffered is appalling. Requirement: a mind for detail, a sympathy for history, an artistic sensibility. Read it at least twice. Only one reader in a thousand will remember the button reference on the last line. A pity that this book should be out-of-print. Pater thought it a perfect work of fiction. Trollope thought it was unsurpassed.