The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon Esq

First published in 1844, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. by Thackeray is a picaresque novel also known as The Luck of Barry Lyndon. It chronicles the life of impoverished Redmond Barry, an Irishman who wants to be an English aristocrat. An opportunist, rake, and gambler, he serves in the Seven Years War, first under the English flag and then, for money, in the Prussian Army. Continuing to play with his luck, he gains wealth in the beginning but eventually is punished for his many lovable imperfections.

Barry Lyndon—far from the best known, but by some critics acclaimed as the finest, of Thackeray's works—appeared originally as a serial a few years before VANITY FAIR was written; yet it was not published in book form, and then not by itself, until after the publication of VANITY FAIR, PENDENNIS, ESMOND and THE NEWCOMES had placed its author in the forefront of the literary men of the day. So many years after the event we cannot help wondering why the story was not earlier put in book form; for in its delineation of the character of an adventurer it is as great as VANITY FAIR, while for the local colour of history, if I may put it so, it is no undistinguished precursor of ESMOND.

The rise and fall of a young 18th century Irishman bent on achieving fame and fortune, mainly by marriage.