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Catherine: a Story
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1840
About the author
William Makepeace Thackeray
4,271 books1,025 followersThackeray, an only child, was born in Calcutta, India, where his father, Richmond Thackeray (1 September 1781 – 13 September 1815), held the high rank of secretary to the board of revenue in the British East India Company. His mother, Anne Becher (1792–1864) was the second daughter of Harriet and John Harman Becher and was also a secretary (writer) for the East India Company.
William had been sent to England earlier, at the age of five, with a short stopover at St. Helena where the imprisoned Napoleon was pointed out to him. He was educated at schools in Southampton and Chiswick and then at Charterhouse School.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_...
William had been sent to England earlier, at the age of five, with a short stopover at St. Helena where the imprisoned Napoleon was pointed out to him. He was educated at schools in Southampton and Chiswick and then at Charterhouse School.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_...
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 2, 2016
Catherine was Thackeray's first novel (1840) and was published under the pen name of Ikey Solomons, Esq., Jr. Catherine's character was based on the real life criminal, Catherine Hayes, who was burned at the stake for murder in London in 1726. It's an odd, disjointed tale of unsavory characters. Thackeray seems to apologize for their baseness several times directly to the reader through the narrator. While somewhat entertaining, it falls well short of the excellence of his classic, Vanity Fair.
February 5, 2016
Σε πολυ λίγες σελίδες , όλη η ειρωνία για την Αγγλικη υψηλή κοινωνία των λούμπεν και του υποκόσμο ...,,,
October 9, 2017
I knew what the outcome of Catherine Hayes' life and Thackeray's Catherine: A Story was based on her life but I wanted to read the actual events after I finished his novel. This was his first novel and he wanted to show that a writer does not have to succumb to having villains look like heroes but I must say he did not accomplish this but in his way he made one sympathize to a point with the villains. He had mentioned authors that brought out the best in these characters and many times he commented on Edward Bulwer Lytton. Not having read Lytton yet, I can not comment on his work but having read Oliver Twist and his comment on Nancy was too critical of Dickens. I completely understand what he was trying to do and if he could see the extreme cases of modern entertainment in media and novels, he would be shocked but I also think that if he had intended to stick basically to the facts he would have achieved this. Probably the Victorian age limited him to mentioning promiscuity, incest and the brutality of the murder but in reading the recorded account, one had no sympathy for Catherine in the least but disgust and making Becky Sharp seem an angel. His Catherine even though a wild cat was looking for something of a romance in her life. I am glad I went in with an open mind and even though this was not on the scales as Vanity Fair, it was an interesting tale of an actual event colored to make it more entertaining and palpable. I much rather read his novel than a novel with all the debauchery of the actual account. Also his mention of Maria Edgeworth in the evil in a child being nurture and not nature, Thackeray seems to think nature has a big hand. Thackeray is right that some evil is born and nothing can change that no matter how much nurturing is given but thank goodness nurturing plays a big part in shaping the young as Edgeworth believed. I did not read this version but a Delphi collection of his works.
April 27, 2015
Contrary to the author's express purpose, and despite his provoking tactics to that effect, this book, Thackeray's first novel, rather than dissuade me from scouting the passages of the heinous yet esteemed Newgate faculty, aroused my morbidness and consigned me to roam along the villains resurrected by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and William Harrison Ainsworth in their works; villains lauded by the very public whose penchant for gruesome narratives Thackeray deplored and strove to stamp out with this volume, in which the views, concerns and stances that became common in his later pieces (how destiny rules over our choices, the perdition of virtue and the reward of perversity) are prominent. Still, this tale conciliated me after several duds I reproved in his catalogue.
Now, as a final note, since the somewhat exhaustive political backdrop that is provided at the beginning of Catherine reminded me of the setting of A Tale of Two Cities, likewise laid down in its first chapter, I am bound to asume—nay, to report aloud also—that Dickens borrowed (I almost said 'cribbed') from Thackeray, for these expositions are too similar, albeit Thackeray's is broader and precedes that of his colleague by two decades. Oh, perhaps I here should acknowledge the source that helped me understand the whole context and climate of the early 18th century, when the story takes place:
http://thackerayscatherine.blogspot.mx/
Now, as a final note, since the somewhat exhaustive political backdrop that is provided at the beginning of Catherine reminded me of the setting of A Tale of Two Cities, likewise laid down in its first chapter, I am bound to asume—nay, to report aloud also—that Dickens borrowed (I almost said 'cribbed') from Thackeray, for these expositions are too similar, albeit Thackeray's is broader and precedes that of his colleague by two decades. Oh, perhaps I here should acknowledge the source that helped me understand the whole context and climate of the early 18th century, when the story takes place:
http://thackerayscatherine.blogspot.mx/
November 21, 2013
Un libro truculento. Al leer el título creí que me iba a topar con una heroína al estilo Jane Eyre o una persona que bien podía ganarse mi simpatía, pero evidentemente eso no estaba en los planes de Thackeray. Y lo deja bien claro desde el inicio.
Catherine es la historia de la muchacha que le da el título al libro. De orígenes humildes, la protagonista trabaja como mesera y soporta (o, según da a entender el narrador, provoca) las reacciones más primitivas de los hombres porque es hermosa. Un día decide hacerle caso a uno de sus pretendientes, el conde de Galgenstein, y de allí en más deberá lidiar con las consecuencias de sus decisiones.
La galería de personajes que Thackeray presenta es variada, pero todos convergen en que ninguno tiene una pizca de bondad y me parece que de allí surge la rivalidad con Charles Dickens, quien podía mostrar atisbos de luz en los seres más oscuros. Thackeray explica, en un largo apartado al final del primer capítulo (interesantísimo de leer, por cierto) que funciona casi como una teoría de la novela, que su intención es que los buenos y los malos se comporten como lo que son. Partiendo de esta premisa, uno pierde las esperanzas muy rápido. El problema es que algunas situaciones que involucran a Catalina (uso la traducción porque lo leí en español) corren el peligro de quedar justificadas porque ella no es ninguna joya como ser humano. Hay que leer con cuidado.
El narrador es demasiado personal como para no ser otra cosa que una construcción del mismísimo Thackeray. Las palabras son corrosivas, al igual que el ambiente de la novela y las actitudes de los personajes, y parecen ensañarse con varias instituciones de la Gran Bretaña del siglo XVIII (el autor es del XIX pero sitúa los acontecimientos muchos años antes). Hubiera querido reírme al leer algunas frases, pero parecen haber sido pensadas con un gruñido de fondo.
En algunas partes pensé que la novela iba a terminarse o cambiar totalmente de protagonistas, pero Thackeray me engañó. Los altibajos me resultaron pesados y, sinceramente, me aburrió todo lo que involucraba a Brock. Sin embargo, el final me sorprendió porque es muy raro y abrupto al mismo tiempo.
En líneas generales, la novela me gustó y es entretenida casi en su totalidad, pero los personajes y sus acciones son insufribles. Ahora sé qué esperar cuando lea Vanity Fair .
Catherine es la historia de la muchacha que le da el título al libro. De orígenes humildes, la protagonista trabaja como mesera y soporta (o, según da a entender el narrador, provoca) las reacciones más primitivas de los hombres porque es hermosa. Un día decide hacerle caso a uno de sus pretendientes, el conde de Galgenstein, y de allí en más deberá lidiar con las consecuencias de sus decisiones.
La galería de personajes que Thackeray presenta es variada, pero todos convergen en que ninguno tiene una pizca de bondad y me parece que de allí surge la rivalidad con Charles Dickens, quien podía mostrar atisbos de luz en los seres más oscuros. Thackeray explica, en un largo apartado al final del primer capítulo (interesantísimo de leer, por cierto) que funciona casi como una teoría de la novela, que su intención es que los buenos y los malos se comporten como lo que son. Partiendo de esta premisa, uno pierde las esperanzas muy rápido. El problema es que algunas situaciones que involucran a Catalina (uso la traducción porque lo leí en español) corren el peligro de quedar justificadas porque ella no es ninguna joya como ser humano. Hay que leer con cuidado.
El narrador es demasiado personal como para no ser otra cosa que una construcción del mismísimo Thackeray. Las palabras son corrosivas, al igual que el ambiente de la novela y las actitudes de los personajes, y parecen ensañarse con varias instituciones de la Gran Bretaña del siglo XVIII (el autor es del XIX pero sitúa los acontecimientos muchos años antes). Hubiera querido reírme al leer algunas frases, pero parecen haber sido pensadas con un gruñido de fondo.
En algunas partes pensé que la novela iba a terminarse o cambiar totalmente de protagonistas, pero Thackeray me engañó. Los altibajos me resultaron pesados y, sinceramente, me aburrió todo lo que involucraba a Brock. Sin embargo, el final me sorprendió porque es muy raro y abrupto al mismo tiempo.
En líneas generales, la novela me gustó y es entretenida casi en su totalidad, pero los personajes y sus acciones son insufribles. Ahora sé qué esperar cuando lea Vanity Fair .
December 16, 2014
I was delighted with this. I want to do a complete Thackeray read, so I had to start with his first, although what I read about it didn't fill me with confidence. But it was very funny, I loved his authorial voice and despite what you may read, the plot works as well. OK, it's not as rounded as Vanity Fair, but well worth the reading.
May 26, 2023
like it’s no vanity fair and i see why he thought this was a failure in terms of the project it was trying to be and hell no i would not widely recommend this but if you’re a victorianist interested in popular fiction??? then yeah tbh it’s relevant and interesting and i think should be read more when having these conversations, especially within the realm of and rise of popular fiction and victorian sympathy
May 20, 2021
A great first great work, by one of the great authors of Victorian era. The short work expounds the worst in the characters, and warns the reader in romanticizing scoundrels.
July 22, 2014
Διασκεδαστικό, καυστικό και κάπου κάπου χιουμοριστικό. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι δύσκολα θα σου αρέσει αν απλά κάτσεις και το διαβάσεις. Είναι ένα γνήσιο κείμενο του 16ου αιώνα επηρεασμένο από την εποχή και τους συγγραφείς της. Αν υπομονετικά ψάξεις πίσω από τις γραμμές για να βρεις τι σχολιάζει και τι σατιρίζει ο συγγραφέας, αν μελετήσεις τον τρόπο ζωής συμπεριφοράς και τιμωρίας των εγκληματιών θα έχεις μια ολοκληρωμένη εικόνα της κουλτούρας της Αγγλίας του 16ου αι. Περνάνε όλοι από το κείμενο: φιλόσοφοι, βασιλείς, δικαστικοί, ο Ντίκενς και άλλοι συγγραφείς, γνωστά πρόσωπα της εποχής και του τόπου. Ίσως να μην το αγαπήσει κάποιος που απλά διαβάζει για να περνά η ώρα. Θέλει λίγη σκέψη, χωρίς όμως αυτό να ξενίζει ή να κουράζει (άλλωστε οι σημειώσεις στο τέλος βοηθάνε στην κατανόηση του γενικότερου πλαισίου).
September 5, 2012
Wow! What a pleasant surprise this novel was. I only read it because I got the complete works of Thackeray on my Kindle. It is my experience that first novel seem to be interesting at best or how-they-improved at worst. This, though, is an exception. Thackerary's first was extremely engaging, very funny, and a wonderful example on how an author can bring us in by acknowledging the fact that we are in fact reading it. i could talk about the plot, but I don't think that is what keeps us reading. It is his style, his wit, and his fun way of telling a story.
September 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this. Thackeray's style is engaging and often very funny - I found myself reading bits out to my other half. A very enjoyable read.
January 16, 2023
Thackeray is famous for his novel Vanity Fair which brilliantly criticizes the way his society at the time has a double standard for men and women (well...some things don't change).
Catherine, likewise, is an attempt to criticize a then-popular trend in fictional books. These books usually contained a hero who was a thief, robber, kidnapper etc. who really has a heart of gold and would wax philosophic about life, often times referencing Greek philosophers, and Greek or Latin classics. This was legitimately a large portion of the fictional writing that was being published in the mid 19th century. I've read some of this, and it is terrible.
Thackeray sets out to poke fun at this trend by pointing out that real criminals are...well...criminals. They don't quote Cicero and they have pretty non-existent morals. Caroline is a book where every character is basically horrible, untrustworthy, and more than happy to lie, cheat, steal or murder if necessary. There is not a single redeemable character in the entire story.
There were portions of the book where he references current events of the day, which mostly were a mystery to me. So, I could not get all the jokes. In general, there were a few funny parts but the book fails on several fronts. First, he writes this piece of fiction like its "True Crime", but since that type of writing requires details and he provides only sketchy ones at best, it does not work on that level. Also, as a comedy is fails since the motives and consequences are all pretty obvious. He also walks you carefully up to each event/crime slowly so you see it coming. So, it was not really that funny.
Finally, as a criticism of contemporary literature it also fails because he doesn't take it far enough. His examples, while pretty terrible behavior, are pretty tame compared to other contemporary writing.
All in all, this book was skippable. Moll Flanders by Daniel Dafoe comes to mind as being better at showing how horrible and mercenary people can be.
Catherine, likewise, is an attempt to criticize a then-popular trend in fictional books. These books usually contained a hero who was a thief, robber, kidnapper etc. who really has a heart of gold and would wax philosophic about life, often times referencing Greek philosophers, and Greek or Latin classics. This was legitimately a large portion of the fictional writing that was being published in the mid 19th century. I've read some of this, and it is terrible.
Thackeray sets out to poke fun at this trend by pointing out that real criminals are...well...criminals. They don't quote Cicero and they have pretty non-existent morals. Caroline is a book where every character is basically horrible, untrustworthy, and more than happy to lie, cheat, steal or murder if necessary. There is not a single redeemable character in the entire story.
There were portions of the book where he references current events of the day, which mostly were a mystery to me. So, I could not get all the jokes. In general, there were a few funny parts but the book fails on several fronts. First, he writes this piece of fiction like its "True Crime", but since that type of writing requires details and he provides only sketchy ones at best, it does not work on that level. Also, as a comedy is fails since the motives and consequences are all pretty obvious. He also walks you carefully up to each event/crime slowly so you see it coming. So, it was not really that funny.
Finally, as a criticism of contemporary literature it also fails because he doesn't take it far enough. His examples, while pretty terrible behavior, are pretty tame compared to other contemporary writing.
All in all, this book was skippable. Moll Flanders by Daniel Dafoe comes to mind as being better at showing how horrible and mercenary people can be.
October 15, 2021
Catherine: A Story was William Makepeace Thackery's first novel. It was also my first Thackery. I had never heard of this novel, but after reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens I began to read that Thackery wrote this novel to counter attack what he thought was the glorifying of criminals in Oliver Twist and other novels at the time that were labeled Newgate Novels. Thackery chose a real-life bloody murder that happened in 1726.
Catherine Hall was a pretty 16 year old barmaid who was seduced and ran off with an Army Captain. Apparently her looks carried her through life and she went where her looks would take her, which was usually into trouble. She married a young carpenter but her attitude remained the same. Eventually she seduced a couple of men (one her own son) into killing her husband to free her. They didn't just kill him, they cut his head off and dismembered his body. His head was found and placed in the churchyard and was eventually identified. She was found guilty of petty treason? and sentenced to be burnt at the stake, her accomplices were to be hung.
I probably rate this as a 3.5 star. Thackery, as was the style of the time, liked to talk to his readers, taking you out of the story. He also seemed to be encyclopedic in his knowledge, which for his readers of 1840 may have been fresh. Not so much 180 years later. When he was telling his story he wrote fine. I will read more. I do have my eyes on Vanity Fair eventually.
Catherine Hall was a pretty 16 year old barmaid who was seduced and ran off with an Army Captain. Apparently her looks carried her through life and she went where her looks would take her, which was usually into trouble. She married a young carpenter but her attitude remained the same. Eventually she seduced a couple of men (one her own son) into killing her husband to free her. They didn't just kill him, they cut his head off and dismembered his body. His head was found and placed in the churchyard and was eventually identified. She was found guilty of petty treason? and sentenced to be burnt at the stake, her accomplices were to be hung.
I probably rate this as a 3.5 star. Thackery, as was the style of the time, liked to talk to his readers, taking you out of the story. He also seemed to be encyclopedic in his knowledge, which for his readers of 1840 may have been fresh. Not so much 180 years later. When he was telling his story he wrote fine. I will read more. I do have my eyes on Vanity Fair eventually.
April 19, 2019
Wonderful story, interesting characters, and some very sharp writing occasionally.
As a novel this is weighed down by the author feeling it necessary to try justifying his novel, at least from a 21st century perspective, often and excessively. I don't want to here about how you're 'not like other crime writers' again and again even if you attempt to write about it in charming, creative ways each time.
Pretty good for a first novel. I definitely want to read more from this author.
I felt the ending was very good but we had laid out the potential for a spectacular finish.
As a novel this is weighed down by the author feeling it necessary to try justifying his novel, at least from a 21st century perspective, often and excessively. I don't want to here about how you're 'not like other crime writers' again and again even if you attempt to write about it in charming, creative ways each time.
Pretty good for a first novel. I definitely want to read more from this author.
I felt the ending was very good but we had laid out the potential for a spectacular finish.
February 12, 2023
Some chairs, and a dismal old black cabinet, completed the furniture of this apartment: it wanted but a ghost to render its gloom complete.
I stumbled over this author, a contemporary of Charles Dickens, by accident and while having a Wikipedia deep-dive on the fellow, stumbled on this novel in particular, which intrigued me. William Makepeace Thackeray was so sick and tired of the authors of his time picking real-life criminals and romanticizing them in their fictional texts that he took it upon himself to teach the public a lesson. So he chose a criminal himself out of the Newgate Calendar, a popular magazine about recent executions of the Newgate prison, and began to write this novel to show once and for all that criminals are not to be glorified for, in fact, their stories are actually miserable and vile if told correctly.
For the subject he chose Catherine Hayes, a woman that was burned at the stake for murdering her husband about 100 years prior.
It's a fascinating concept, especially for the time, although I went into it fully expecting a misogynistic depiction of a woman painted as the devil herself. Luckily, that hasn't exactly been the thing as there are plenty of male characters surrounding her that are far worse than her and, although it's not exactly intended that way, you could easily come out of this story taking that Catherine was driven to her awful crime by the abuse she endured at the hands of these men. Reading this, Catherine was much more sympathetic than the author probably wanted her to seem. I'm sure the 200-year difference between the writing of this text and me reading it had some part in that too, as the domestic abuse and cultural elements that are part of this story have a much different weight nowadays than they did back then.
But even aside from that, apparently Thackeray himself stated that the exercise that was this book was a failure and even he began to feel for this fictional version of Catherine Hayes that he created.
That being said though, I'm certain that both this fictional Catherine and the real person deserved better.
Anyway, what this novel ends up being then is a somewhat pulpy romance that feels like a parody of itself. At moments, the book manages to feel like an ugly collection of misery, as the author probably intended. But for most of the book, it almost works like a literary episode of Mystery Science Theater where the creator of the story takes time to poke holes into his own text and desperately tries to convince you that criminals just don't make for subjects worth romanticizing.
Thackeray goes on tangents of describing how a scene might have been written if it was written by one of his contemporaries, in kitschy and dramatic wordplay, but then doubles down that he refuses to do that to drive home his own point. He also makes out-of-character quips at points or rants about the Newgate Calendar, that aforementioned popular magazine of ongoing executions that seems to be read for entertainment and used as inspiration by authors. He even namedrops popular novels of the time that took real-life criminals as characters and he apologizes to the viewer for introducing the reader to characters that are "so utterly worthless" but, alas, that's what the public seems to want.
All of this has a surprisingly lighthearted aura to it and didn't match the cynical expectations I had beforehand. Whether it be the intended effect or not, Thackeray's Catherine was, for long parts of it, a funny commentary on crime/romance novels, written by a witty and fairly charming, if somewhat unconvincing, author.
The story itself moved on at a rather quick pace too and aside from the usual tangents of the time was a genuinely pretty engaging plot. Almost every character with a name in this book is a criminal and not a good person in general, but their escapades are still interesting. Catherine herself is depicted as not innocent as well and she admittedly does make some odd decisions, but all in all she read, to me at least, as a complete victim of her circumstances, and as the final pages drew closer, I couldn't wait for her to perform the infamous crime because of which she had been chosen for as the titular character in the first place.
The ending even, allegedly, cites real newspaper texts of the time in an attempt to draw the murder as realistically cruel as possible, which is a wonderful cherry on top of this uptight exercise of a moral lesson.
I think that Thackeray's original point had some merit to it but the execution seemed a bit misguided and not very convincing. Nevertheless, it made for a decently entertaining read, be it intentionally so or not.
December 24, 2017
Catherine: A Story was written by William Makepeace Thackeray in response to the popularity of early nineteenth-century crime fiction - the so-called Newgate novels, based on the lives of criminals that went to Newgate prison (either historical or fictional) and their stories in the ‘Newgate Calendar’, a popular record with criminal biographies sold cheaply. Thackeray’s story of Catherine is based on an eighteenth-century murderess, burned at the stake for killing her husband. The author was frustrated at the way readers sympathised with the criminals in fiction by authors like Edward Bulwer-Lytton and William Harrison Ainsworth that he wanted to publish a novel with a protagonist so vile that no one would sympathise with her. However, whether accidentally or on purpose, he failed in this goal, and Catherine came to be counted among the popular Newgate fiction Thackeray despised, instead of being a counter to it.
I enjoyed the first half of the story very much - the narrator’s voice regularly injects some cynical comments into the text that invite the reader to laugh at what is going on. As it progressed however, I felt the story started to drag a bit more (though this might also just have been the fact that I was increasingly busy as I read through the novel in weekly instalments). Still, it was an entertaining nineteenth-century read, and I’m pleased to have added to my list of Newgate novels.
I enjoyed the first half of the story very much - the narrator’s voice regularly injects some cynical comments into the text that invite the reader to laugh at what is going on. As it progressed however, I felt the story started to drag a bit more (though this might also just have been the fact that I was increasingly busy as I read through the novel in weekly instalments). Still, it was an entertaining nineteenth-century read, and I’m pleased to have added to my list of Newgate novels.
March 1, 2014
An early book, whose tone is familiar, but whose goal in writing is a little messy. He clearly wanted to write a satire of books that glamorize criminals, but he can't seem to help making Catherine sympathetic.
August 16, 2014
Ok. Well written, interesting story and characters, but the ending is melodramatic, and it's definitely not Thackeray's best. Quick easy read.
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