peterhaleas posted: " Special Collections vintage Thackeray set! Be careful what you wish for. In 1854, the young writer Charlotte Brontë published the 2nd Edition of Jane Eyre, dedicating it to William Makepeace Thackeray as "the first social regenerator of the day. . "
In 1854, the young writer Charlotte Brontë published the 2nd Edition of Jane Eyre, dedicating it to William Makepeace Thackeray as "the first social regenerator of the day. . .His wit is bright, his humour attractive, but both bear the same relation to his serious genius that the mere lambent sheet-lightning playing under the edge of the summer- cloud does to the electric death-spark hid in its womb."
At that time, Thackeray's Vanity Fair had just been published to rapturous reviews, a real rival to Dickens. Thanking Brontë profusely, Thackeray and his admirer finally got to meet at a dinner hosted by her publisher.
What happens when you meet your hero? When the creator of hundreds of lives — hundreds of characters — is just one man?
Disappointment.
Throughout the dinner, Charlotte Brontë's shy awe made her unable to speak. Thackeray ate potatoes. Each bite popped Charlotte's ideal. By all accounts, it was a bad dinner. On their second meeting, things didn't improve much either, at a dinner hosted for female writers by Thackeray. For all her brilliant words on the page, Charlotte could only manage "Yes" and "No", stared off gloomily, and it was a rotten evening.
Who are our heroes? Who they are? Or what they produce?
Be careful what you wish for. Heroes may be wildlife best viewed from a distance.
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