I was reading the Weekly Standard the other day and came across a mention of William Makepeace Thackeray's bicentennial, which was in July of this year. July 18, to be precise.
I felt a bit conscience-stricken.
While I've been up to my eyebrows in news about the coming Dickens bicentennial, I never even realized that 2011 was Thackeray's. That doesn't seem right, somehow. Thackeray was unquestionably a great novelist, and a friend of Dickens's to boot (very much an on-and-off friend, true, but still a friend in the final analysis). I can't help but think that Mr. Dickens himself would be sorry to see the man's bicentennial pass unnoticed. As columnist Anatoly Liberman writes, in a piece about Pendennis and David Copperfield, "Let us remember both, for both are great, and greatness is a commodity in short supply."
So I will take it upon myself, on behalf of all of us Dickensians here, to wish Mr. Thackeray a happy 200th!
Darn it, I missed this one... And I'm usually good at catching these!
Posted by: Rob V | December 30, 2011 at 08:18 AM
Gina, I thought the other day that it must be Thackeray's bicentennial around now, checked and realised just the same as you, that I'd missed the date! I've always loved both authors. 2012 will also be the bicentennial for Robert Browning, one of my favourite poets - it seems as if several of the greatest Victorian authors were born around the same time. Let's hope the celebrations for Dickens's 200th spin off a bit to reawaken interest in this whole wonderful literary period.
Posted by: Judy | December 30, 2011 at 03:33 PM
You're one up on me, Judy. I didn't have the faintest idea until I saw it in the magazine! :-)
Posted by: Gina | December 30, 2011 at 03:37 PM
Oh no! I can't believe that one went by so unnoticed. Happy 200th to both Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Dickens!
Posted by: Selenia | January 05, 2012 at 08:26 PM