[lit-ideas] Re: "Vanitas Vanitatum"

  • From: Ceridwen Harris <cmharris@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 22:51:13 -0400

The Oxford Companion to English Literature claims: " Thackeray, Willaim 
Makepeace, 1811-63, of a Yorkshire yeoman family, was born in Calcutta, 
where his father held office as a collector"...

Anglo Indian in this case I believe is used to mean one of the British 
families who settled in India. Some married Indians but many did not.  I 
don't think the implication is that his mother was Indian - rather, that 
his parents settled in India. Some Anglo Indians I know would be appalled 
if one assumed they came from mixed race. Anglo Indian can be used in two 
ways - as 1) settled in India but of British origin 2) being of mixed race, 
English and Indian

Yes, Ms Schwartz the Jamaican is indeed in the original - and George 
Osbourne finds her  unacceptably ugly because of her colour.

These are references to the snobbery of the time which Thackeray is 
depicting for us.  George Osbourne was the son of a tradesman - hence not 
really acceptable in aristocratic society - but Ms Schwartz was right that 
with enough money that could be overcome. His refusal to accept Becky the 
governess is all the more ironic given his own origins.

Anglo INd

At 09:46 PM 07/09/2004, you wrote:
>
>In a message dated 9/7/2004 7:12:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>This  sounds a bit odd to me -- given that his parents were
>Anglo-Indian  --
>AA>Thackeray himself left India as a small child, never to  return.
>he was sent to school here, yes
>----
>
>There is an interesting sequence in the film involving, I believe, a
>Jamaican -- and I wonder if that's in the original too:
>
>      A: What can you tell about the sugar
>           plantations.
>      B: Not much -- I left Jamaica
>          as a small child, when I  was three years
>          old, never to  return.
>
>This involves what the NYT review describes,
>
>     "Then, as now, you could buy your
>     way to the top, and one of the sharpest
>     scenes observes a crude premarital
>     negotiation that goes nowwhere."
>
>--- "She's not even English!", George Osborne tells his father.
>
>I would think Thackery _was_ considered an 'Englishman', though, and I
>notice that the Oxford Dict. of Quotations describes him as "English 
>novelist",
>not British, or Anglo-Indian! -- Cheers,
>
>I loved the scene about the curry and Becky's initiation to it!
>
>JL
>
>
>
>
>
>
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