“All is Vanity” – Ecclesiastes
“Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it, is satisfied?” – Vanity Fair
In 1899, Veblen published his The Theory of the Leisure Class, arguing that most of society’s activities were focused purely on establishing status. We engage in conspicuous consumption, we train ourselves in skills with no remunerative reward, we even pursue conspicuous leisure, all to prove we have the money and status such activities require. It’s not clear much has changed, unfortunately.
Fifty years before, Thackeray wrote on a similar subject. He satirized early 19th century Britain, with its class-obsessed, materialist fixations and flaws. His novel, subtitled A Novel without a Hero, has only flawed characters, with a devil’s assortment of opportunists, snobs, fools, hypocrites, adulterers, psychopaths, and more. No character is wholly flawed, however: many are explained to be products of their poverty or straightened circumstances, or also have redeeming virtues. From a mild beginning, it descends into a bleak view of human nature from which there is no escape or possibility of reform.
The glory of the book, however, is in Thackeray’s narration. One of the best known omniscient narrators, he is at times scornful, biting, and incisive, and always clever. He even insults his readers, suggesting that anyone interested in such Vanity Fairs must be lazy or sarcastic. Though grim, however, his insights are brilliant, and maintain their potency today, particularly in a world of increasing inequality and consumption.
“Be humble, my brother, in your prosperity! Be gentle with those who are less lucky, if not more deserving. Think, what right have you to be scornful, whose virtue is a deficiency of temptation, whose success may be a chance, whose rank may be an ancestor’s accident, whose prosperity is very likely a satire.”
“Some cynical Frenchman has said that there are two parties to a love-transaction: the one who loves and the other who condescends to be so treated.”
“The world is a looking glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.”