Chapter 8
Thackeray, Denis Duval. New York: Harper, 1864. *EC85.T3255.864d. |
Thackeray’s unfinished novel, Denis Duval (New York: Harper, 1864). In the spring of 1863, Thackeray began what would be his last work, Denis Duval. Only four numbers of the planned eight appeared posthumously in Cornhill. Thackeray wanted it to be successful, free of the moralizing of which his critics often complained. 21-year-old Henry James, who published his first short story in February 1864, wrote that it was “overflowing with possibilities of character.” Dickens felt it was the best of Thackeray’s works, although this may have revealed how little he valued Thackeray’s other writing. |