Knjiga o snobovima

by William Makepeace Thackeray, Nada Ćurčija Prodanović (Translator)

Izvanredno duhovita zapažanja o ljudskoj prirodi

„Vi koji prezirete svoje bližnje, snobovi ste; vi koji zaboravljate svoje prijatelje zato da biste se dodvorili onima višim od sebe, snobovi ste; vi koji se stidite svog siromaštva i crvenite zbog svog zanimanja, snobovi ste, a isto tako i vi koji se hvalite svojim poreklom ili vi koji se dičite svojim bogatstvom.“

Vilijam Mejkpis Tekeri, autor Vašara taštine, romana koji ga je proslavio i doživeo u XX veku mnogobrojne literarne i filmske adaptacije, bio je jedini rival Čarlsu Dikensu. Kako je XIX vek bio doba procvata štampe, a naročito časopisa, Tekeri je bio cenjeni saradnik mnogih redakcija i pisao je članke na različite teme. Knjiga o snobovima zbirka je tekstova koji su izlazili od 1846. do 1847. u satiričnom časopisu Panč. Njegov odnos prema društvenim pojavama koje opisuje veoma je složen, jer on istovremeno daje duhovite savete, društveno se angažuje i vešto karikira to što primećuje oko sebe, stoga ga s pravom ubrajamo u velike majstore satire.
.
Ove kolumne pisane britkim jezikom pršte od humora i čitaju se sa neskrivenim zadovoljstvom čak i danas, jer nepogrešivo opisuju ljudsku sklonost ka oponašanju bogatih i slavnih. Fantastična društvena lekcija aktuelna je naročito u naše doba rijaliti i selebriti „kulture“.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Humor, British Literature, 19th Century, Satire, Victorian

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist, satirist, and journalist, best known for his keen social commentary and his novel Vanity Fair (1847–1848). His works often explored themes of ambition, hypocrisy, and the moral failings of British society, making him one of the most significant literary figures of the Victorian era.
Born in Calcutta, British India, he was sent to England for his education after his father’s death. He attended Charterhouse School, where he developed a distaste for the rigid school system, and later enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, he left without earning a degree, instead traveling in Europe and pursuing artistic ambitions.
After losing much of his inheritance due to bad investments, Thackeray turned to writing for a living. He contributed satirical sketches, essays, and stories to periodicals such as Fraser’s Magazine and Punch, gradually building a reputation for his sharp wit and keen observational skills. His breakthrough came with Vanity Fair, a panoramic satire of English society that introduced the enduring character of Becky Sharp, a resourceful and amoral social climber.
Thackeray’s later novels, including Pendennis (1848–1850), The History of Henry Esmond (1852), and The Newcomes (1853–1855), continued to explore the lives of the English upper and middle classes, often focusing on the contrast between personal virtue and social ambition. His historical novel Henry Esmond was particularly praised for its detailed 18th-century setting and complex characterization.
In addition to his fiction, Thackeray was a noted public speaker and essayist, delivering lectures on the English humorists of the 18th century and on The Four Georges, a critical look at the British monarchy.
Despite his literary success, he lived with personal struggles, including the mental illness of his wife, Isabella, which deeply affected him. He remained devoted to his two daughters and was known for his kindness and generosity among his friends and colleagues.
His works remain widely read, appreciated for their incisive humor, rich characterizations, and unflinching critique of social pretensions.

Reviews

[Matthew Gatheringwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody is a snob of some sort. The important thing is to discover just what kind of snob you are and then accommodate yourself to your fault. Thackeray has written a kind of natural history of snobs that assists the identification process. A close reading of this book will save years of therapy.

[Amanda B]

DNF @ 51%. I find myself skim reading most of this one, so I’m giving it up......

[Yngvild · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book of Snobs is a collection of weekly columns written in 1848 for Punch magazine By William Makepeace Thackeray. Thackeray may not have invented the word “snob”, but the idea of an upwardly mobile mercantile middle class desperate to appear better born than they had been was still quite new in the 19th century. For a satirist, it was easy pickings.

The problem with giving a book a title like The Book of Snobs is that it sets readers’ expectations unreasonably high. This was mildly amusing, not often laugh out-loud funny. Thackeray’s sketches help, and it might have been funnier if I had recognized the characters as public figures. I can think of quite a few modern politicians who would have featured under pseudonyms if Thackeray had been writing now.

Some of the chapters are just snippy: the club (or office?) boor who claims to be the world’s expert on something he knows nothing about; the expensive Gilbert and Sullivan uniforms of the military (or security guards?); and the ineffable show-offs abroad. Is there any country whose tourists do not shame them?

The surprise was how often the chapters were extraordinarily sad. Thackeray shows the poverty that was the reality of many people, and their desperate attempts to maintain face. There is the husband showing off expensively to his acquaintances, while his wife and children starve and freeze at home. There is the miserable husband falling further into debt, while his wife spends his money on frippery to impress the neighbours. There is the stress endured by people falling into penury with nothing but crime, gin and gambling to comfort them.

Thackeray worked himself up into quite a froth at some of this, not least at the silly rules of society and government that get people into debt in the first place. Just look at all those huge SUV’s, always driven by the people who can least afford them.

The real service he performed for us was to show both sides of society: the public face and the daily reality. Literature (I mean you, Miss Austen), generally, does that poorly. Think how many flamboyant movies would be ruined if the directors understood that nobody used those grand entrances except on rare occasions.

But these stairs are made in great houses for people not to ascend. The first Lady Carabas (they are but eighty years in the peerage), if she got out of her gilt coach in a shower, would be wet to the skin before she got half-way to the carved Ionic portico, where four dreary statues of Peace, Plenty, Piety and Patriotism, are the only sentinels. You enter these palaces by back-doors. “That was the way the Carabases got their peerage,” the misanthropic Ponto said after dinner. –The Book of Snobs, William Makepeace Thackeray (1848)

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given to me by a friend who knows I am a snob about many things (hopefully with humor!), I found this book to be entertaining and in some ways enlightening. Thackeray takes every type of character you could imagine, and discusses the stereotypical "snob" of that group. He does this with wit and humor, and swift rapier cuts that expose to the bone in some cases! Groups include military snobs, university snobs, great city snobs, aristocratic snobs, country snobs, dining-out snobs, literary snobs (ow! that one hit a nerve!), and even English snobs on the continent. Several of these groups get more than one chapter because they provide such a rich vein!

Interestingly, I found that while Thackeray includes clerical snobs, he provides a very welcome defense of the clergy. While there are caricature's in every grouping of people, Thackeray recognizes that the work done by the clerics is more important and less open to ridicule.

[worldofbooksby_h · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Knjiga o snobovima" predstavlja zbirku tekstova, clanaka koje je Vilijam Mejkpis Tekeri pisao u jednogodisnjem periodu od 1846. do 1847. godine, a izlazili su u casopisu Panc, poznatom po svojoj satiricnoj noti.
Nekada je snobizam bio karakteristican za oznacavanje pojedinaca na lestvici medjuklasnog uspinjanja, prleska iz nize u visu, gospodsku klasu, na razlicite nacine i putem raznovrsnih smicalica, oponasajuci obicaje i drzanje pripadnika vise klase.
Vremenom se ovaj pojam menjao i krenuo da obuhvata siroka polja i kategorije ljudi.
Iskreno nisam mogla ni da zamislim da postoji toliko kategorija snobova.
Najbitnija podela je na apsolutne i relativne snobove : " Pod apsolutnim podrazumevam one snobove koji su snobovi svugde i u svako doba, u svakom drustvu, od jutra do mraka i od mladosti do groba, buduci da ih je priroda obdarila snobizmom - dok su drugi snobovi samo u izvesnim prilikama i odnosima u zivotu."
Krecemo sa dobrocudnim prikazom snobova i polako se upoznajemo sa ostalim vrstama i podvrstama.
Naravno tu su kraljevski snobovi, potom imamo vojne i klerikalne, univerzitetske, literarne, irske, engleske snobove u inostranstvu, provincijske, klupske, gostoljubive...
Upoznajemo snobove kroz njihove stavove, odnose, prijatelje, brakove, balove i vecere, po tome sta vole da jedu, koji klubovi su im baza, vino koje striktno piju.
Naravno svaka odredjena grupa ljudi ima neki prirucnik, pa tako za je snobove Almanah plemstva postovan kao druga engleska Biblija.
Sve nam ovo na jedan ironicno duhovit nacin Tekeri opisuje i priblizava.
Mogu reci iako je proslo vise otprilike 170 godina od ovih clanaka, snobizam ne samk da je preziveo, vec je mutirao i dobio neke hibridne podvrste u modernom dobu. 🤣🤣
Pitam se koliko bi tomova Tekeriju bilo potrebno da napise da obuhvati sve danasnje nazovi snobove?
3.5⭐️

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've stuck this on my read shelf but (quiet whisper) I haven't actually finished it. The writing is witty, but too repetitive. As an article, it would be great, but as a book it just ends up rehashing the same old ideas and jokes.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any literary-minded American young person, particularly those of an Anglophilic bent, will discover Punch magazine at some point in their adolescence and probably think to themselves, "why is this considered funny?".

This book anthologizes weekly columns Thackeray wrote for Punch in 1847-48 - of course, as was the custom at the time, he wrote under a pseudonym. Skewering pretension and snobbery in every realm of civic, political, religious and military life no doubt brought the editors of the magazine a large weekly mailbag of outrage which was no doubt considered a measure of success.

[Emer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry Thackeray

[Seg · Rating 2 out of 5]

И вновь опять Одноэтажная Америка. Произведение-дневник, суть которого можно передать в одной главе (что собственно и происходит последняя глава раскрывает главный вопрос лучше, чем какая-либо другая, и ее прочтения будет достаточно для ознакомления). Немного несправедливо оценивать данную работу как полноценную книгу, потому что она такой не является и не задумывалась. Оттого воздержусь от этой идеи.
Признаюсь, чтения данного ТВОРЕНИЯ оказалось тяжелой задачей для меня. Мне было ужасно скучно, потому что читал я его не по своей воли, и вопрос, который автор поднимает был мне ужасно неинтересен. Я представлял, как буду писать этот отзыв, как буду гневаться, объяснять почему это ерунда, недостойная чтения любого уважающего себя человека. Но. Мне совсем не хочется это делать, не потому что я поменял свое мнение. Оно все такое же, уверяю. Я просто не вижу в этом смысла, зачем растрачиваться по пустякам, я просто скажу одно. Будет у вас лишнее время, пускай хоть немного - не читайте эту книгу.

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If Fun is good, Truth is still better, and Love best of all."

Are you a snob? Chances are that if you lived in the mid 19th century and William Thackeray knew you, you were.
There are in fact, according to him, snobs in every facet of life and someone needs to call them out. That someone being him of course.
So yes, Irish snobs, club snobs, marriage snobs, rich snobs, literary snobs, clerical snobs, respectable(!) snobs, and on and on it goes.
Quite funny in fits and starts, this book also tends to get weighed down by its dated put downs (I confess however that I can never hear the word ‘Jackanape’ enough) and satire of people we perhaps should know but don’t because we live in 2021 and we are not snobs (maybe).
It is very fun for what it is though, Thackeray at his curmudgeonly sarcastic best, judging and telling you how annoyed he is by you.

[Nino Meladze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first half much more than the second . Great timeless satire that is relevant for current day snobs.
I find that there should be solid familiarity with Briton’s culture to fully understand the essence of the book.

[Oto Bakradze · Rating 2 out of 5]

ვიქტორიანულ ეპოქას კარგად თუ არ იცნობ, ამ წიგნის თავების უმეტესობა არარელევანტურია დღევანდელობასთან მიმართებით. თან ჩვენს ეპოქაში განსაკუთრებით.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tome came out initially in the form of an exciting succession of articles in "Punch" in 1846-1847. These are among his best periodical pieces. Here we are familiarized with a complete domain of snobs, who, Thackeray had pointed out, had existed for years and years though the name describing them was not more than two and a half decade old at the time. He had "an eye for a snob" or a zeal of vision into what was really mean. In this tome, Thackeray is pleasantly engaged in hunting down snobs in the numerous partitions of society, as each of this has its percentage of snobs. But on reading the book we feel that Thackeray's obsession with snobs has been carried to far and it would have been better if he had written only a dozen of ‘The Snob Papers’ instead of all the 45 of them. Again it would have been more operational if the snootiness of sycophancy, of untruth, of spinelessness, of time-serving and of money-worship had been attacked instead of "that of kings, priests, soldiers, merchants or men of letters." In general, it must be acknowledged that the snob papers afford pleasant reading. Thackeray had been carried beyond the truth by his penetrating desire to put down what was mean in the little civilities and incivilities of his fellowmen in society.

[Tim S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A periodically amusing book but many of its sections aren’t apt to have much relevance to modern readers. As a result I skimmed over a number of the chapters and ended up reading (most of) the book in random drips and drabs. In my opinion Thackery did a far better job of satirizing social climbers and inane snobbery in Vanity Fair, and I'd suggest readers interested in sampling his work start there.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with humor of another era is that it doesn't necessarily make sense in another cultural context. Parts of this book were very funny, indeed, and parts were just a little tedious.

Recommended only for the very knowledgeable in Victorian literature and culture.

[Gwynneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on Victorian social climbers that's not so different from what happened in the past several years here in America.

[Lili Kyurkchiyska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Да четеш "Книга за снобите" е да се върнеш в друга епоха, без да излизаш от своята собствена, защото снобите са все тъй живи и все тъй бродят сред нас. Дори и на Балканите...

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was well-written and cleverly elucidates the snobs on every level of society. I just couldn't get into it that much. Might have been the wrong time for me to read it.

[Delanie Dooms · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Snobs is a collection of essays written by William Makepeace Thackeray for Punch. By naming it as such, Thackeray engages in snobbery, for the pretension of the title does not match the content: the essays cannot really be called a systemic analysis of snobbery, comprising, at best, a series of general pointers about snobs and sketches of key snob characteristics and people. It is rather tongue-in-cheek, of course--the subtitle is all we need to look at to see this.*

The central theme of the text may be that nobody can escape being a snob. How we organize society is largely responsible for this. For Thackeray, this comes in forms like the Court Circular (which commented upon the lives of the rich and royal, etc., etc.), and the affect this had upon both the people who read it (e.g., women who grew up on it, learning vanity and pretension earlier than a man might) and those who it is about (who can remain untainted with pride after seeing such attention bestrewn upon themselves in such a cringing way?). It comes in forms like the enormous economic advantage gained from being a rich or noble person. If one could but amass a fortune, one is guaranteed money for one's children, a place in politics, endless comfort, etc. etc., which privileges and thereby makes great those who are born into or rich enough to enter the peerage. How, says Thackeray, could the ordinary human resist? How could one not see these great folk and immediately venerate them (e.g., by virtue of wanting to be them--for how can you hate that which you want yourself)? Even those most cynical are tainted by the virus--even when ideology is lost the society forces one to use it, even to want it.

This critique is in some ways based upon equality--the fundamental building block of why a snob is nothing more than a humbug is that there is no difference between an aristocrat and a farmer. We are born all of Eve and Adam, as it were, and the pretensions of the nobles, the desire to emulate them, to appear fine and fancy, etc., etc., are all lies told by us at the end of the day; it is nothing but vanity and foolishness, a mask for the reality of things, and a corruption of our sense of duty and appreciation of others. (E.g., the duty toward others is harmed by the vanity of buying plate or hosting a dinner party when your daughter goes hungry often enough, thereby one's duty and one's affection toward others are both perverted.) This sense of equality ruffled many feathers at the time of his writing; it landed squarely on the liberal (or even farther left) side of things, which disturbed conservative readers (considering the popularity of these papers). However, this is not all social.

Alongside this broader critique, we see into the lives of some snobs. We see that the poor snob is often made poorer by their pretension, exceeding their expenses by many times simply to look rich; it is to let the daughter starve whilst hosting a dinner party, and Thackeray sees the injustice and irony in this. We see marriages totally ruined by snobbery, or unable to be formed because of it. Marrying for love is nothing--one must have the money, too. The whole of the book portrays snobs of this way, giving sympathy to rich ones (for they are around the cringing, mean snobs who form their social sphere) and poor alike, whilst also often enough laughing at them or pointing out their foibles succinctly enough.

Thackeray is especially notable in this text for satire and humor. Miss Wirt, the pianist, was a particularly funny gimmick--indeed, my favorite section was the country satire. Too many good build-ups to a final joke (like Snob's deception of the Lordator Mrs. Ponto). These satirical portrayals do two things. 1) they are funny, they make one laugh; 2) the are learning experiences, for these characters--no matter the gulf of time between when Thackeray wrote and today--are ever-present. Love of finery, subjection to the rich, etc., etc., all hold sway in modern society. The concept of "flexing" is exactly this, for example. The obsession with rich celebrities, the standardization of beauty, etc., etc., are all this. It is different--commodity consumption for itself, as a means of creating meaning is newer. But the system of economics which Thackeray lived under--the burgeoning capitalism--and our capitalism are in many ways the same, produce the same ends, and--even if Thackeray desires in this book to go more toward free-market capitalism, both of themselves and as an escape from feudal ideas (like the nobility themselves)--these ends are immediately recognizable.

* "The Snobs of England, by one of themselves"

[James Askari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thackeray's subject in this collection of a year's worth of articles from Punch is less snobbery than the English class system--the impulse to fawn on social superiors, and condescendingly to accept the homage of inferiors. In these terms, there's hardly anyone in the country who is not a snob. The book does not shy from societal diagnosis or critique; but its focus is tight, and it deals in one paragraph to two- or three-page vignettes of exemplary figures. We are not expected to care for these figures--with perhaps a proto-novelistic exception of a naval man and his wife, daughter of a coal merchant lured into Clubland at the end--but rather to recognise the detail and be in a position to know when affectation and pomposity have been skewered.

The more you can attend to the grain of the proper nouns and idioms--the things that are specific to streets and years--the more rewarding the book becomes. Thackeray's persona, while that of 'Mr Snob', is that of someone older in years than the author was--of the man who has suffered, been chastened and is now weary, disinterested and insightful, having nevertheless a bottomless sympathy with those still in the throes of the passions he has outlived. This is close to the narrator of Vanity Fair, which was to follow closely on this, only in appearance or 'pitch' a lighter book. There are passages which in their thorough but Olympianly depersonalised indignation that closely anticipate that book:

A man can't help being a fool, be he ever so old, and Sir George is a greater ass at sixty-eight than he was when he first entered the army at fifteen. He distinguished himself everywhere: his name is mentioned with praise in a score of Gazettes: he is the man, in fact, whose padded breast, twinkling over with innumerable decorations, has already been introduced to the reader. It is difficult to say what virtues this prosperous gentleman possesses. He never read a book in his life, and, with his purple, old gouty fingers, still writes a schoolboy hand. He has reached old age and grey hairs without being the least venerable. He dresses like an outrageously young man to the present moment, and laces and pads his old carcass as if he were still handsome George Tufto of 1800. He is selfish, brutal, passionate, and a glutton. It is curious to mark him at table, and see him heaving in his waistband, his little bloodshot eyes gloating over his meal. He swears considerably in his talk, and tells filthy garrison stories after dinner. On account of his rank and his services, people pay the bestarred and betitled old brute a sort of reverence; and he looks down upon you and me, and exhibits his contempt for us, with a stupid and artless candour which is quite amusing to watch. Perhaps, had he been bred to another profession, he would not have been the disreputable old creature he now is. But what other? He was fit for none; too incorrigibly idle and dull for any trade but this, in which he has distinguished himself publicly as a good and gallant officer, and privately for riding races, drinking port, fighting duels, and seducing women. He believes himself to be one of the most honourable and deserving beings in the world. About Waterloo Place, of afternoons, you may see him tottering in his varnished boots, and leering under the bonnets of the women who pass by. When he dies of apoplexy, The Times will have a quarter of a column about his services and battles--four lines of print will be wanted to describe his titles and orders alone--and the earth will cover one of the wickedest and dullest old wretches that ever strutted over it.

[José Luis Valenciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

El esnobismo está de moda. Todos podemos ser unos esnobs de manual en mayor o menor medida y, gracias a William Thackeray (1811-1863) podemos conocer los rasgos que caracterizan al esnob.
A Thackeray se le conoce sobre todo por "La feria de las vanidades", pero lo que muchos desconocerán es su vena satírica, pues fue colaborador habitual de la revista Punch, la decana de las publicaciones humorísticas británicas desde 1841 hasta su fin en 2002.
Fue en este medio en que, durante un año entero, publicó semanalmente los artículos que se recopilarían luego en "El libro de los esnobs" y que, más de 170 años después, siguen de plena actualidad.
Thackeray era de talante conservador, pero ello no era óbice para criticar con dureza los vicios de la alta sociedad y la aristocracia que tan bien conocía, por formar parte de ella. Los ataques a los cargos hereditarios, el trato de favor dado a cualquiera que tuviera un título e incluso el sistema de reclutamiento del ejército, donde los hijos de nobles hacían carrera a velocidades meteóricas, son asuntos tratados desde la sátira más mordaz.
Pero Thackeray también recuerda que no es solo esnob aquel que, desde una posición de superioridad espera ser agasajado, sino aquel que, desde una posición social inferior (aunque posiblemente con más fondos), agasaja de modo servil a estos, esperando formar parte de ellos, aunque sea arrastrándose.
Francamente, me ha parecido un libro maravilloso y revelador que debería ser leido en las escuelas, a fin de ayudar a los jóvenes a reconocer los comportamientos esnobs de hoy, que siguen extiendo, aunque hayan podido cambiar de formato.

[Redderationem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le mie quattro stelle non si riferiscono esplicitamente a questa edizione del lavoro di Thackeray. La traduzione è palesemente datata e inadeguata a rendere con la dovuta originale brillantezza questo pamphlet.
Si colloca infatti circa a due terzi del lungo periodo che intercorre fra la prima pubblicazione in volume dell'opera e il mio occhio di lettore moderno. Ci arriva inoltre senza curarsi di colmare il gap già accumulato e di cercare di esplicitare il senso che sta dietro all'uso di certe parole, non dico poi di cercare di renderne in italiano il gioco, sforzo spesso inumano.
Però, scavando un po', strofinando con energia, si riesce comunque un po' a intuire quello che doveva saltare agli occhi di un lettore inglese che aveva appena visto insediarsi la più longeva delle monarche britanniche, prima di quella attuale.
Fatti comunque salvi le situazioni e i bozzetti in cui la satira infierisce su certi "casi umani" esilaranti, che trascendono sia i tempi che la non sempre semplice definizione di snob.

[Daria Zheglo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have chosen this book pretty much because of it’s title, because my opinion about snobs varies from hate to love, and from time to time I even admit, that the worst snob of the world is actually myself.
Anyway, even though the descriptions of the characters are pretty sharp, I missed some English wittiness and William Thackeray wasn’t self-ironic enough to admit that he was as well a part of literate / intellectual snob groups himself.
Not bad at all, but do not set high expectations, once you see that the author of my beloved Vanity Fair has written as well a novel with such a catchy name.

[Honza Rillich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly disappointing, though I don't consider it an utter waste of time. After enjoying Vanity Fair very much, I expected a similar experience; the Book of Snobs is, unfortunately, too centered around one point (snob be bad, snob be everywhere), with frequent hilarious passages, but not enough to make it an above-average piece. I feel the topic could have been used to mine tons of gold, but only a bit of silver came out. On the other hand, I really loved some parts, as with the Club Snobs or Snobs in the Country, offering several accurate (and perhaps TOO accurate for the Victorian England) observations. 3.5/5

[Gabs 🫧 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

To be honest, I started reading this book thinking that it may be somehow important (because of the picture of the English society back then). But as I was reading it, it became clear to me, that it isn't going to be such a book. For me, the more I read, the more exhausted and cringed I was. I truly felt as if I was reading a script for a bad stand-up... shame, but I still think it's somehow worth reading, especially if you're interested in English society in mid 19th century or a fan of Thackeray.

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duhovita i simpatična zbirka preuređenih članaka Tekerija koja govori o različitim tipovima snobova u doba viktorijanske Engleske. Kako smo svi snobovi, kako sam Tekeri kaže, a samim tim su i svi oko nas snobovi, nije teško naći paralele sa današnjim društvom. No ovo nije štivo ka kome bih potrčala jer su sve pričice bazirane isključivo na epizodnim junacima, a mnoštvo misli je repetitivno.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters were more funny compared to others, but the irony of Thackeray is really well used in this little sarcastic book.

Alcuni capitoli erano più divertenti di altri, ma comunque Thackeray utilizza la sua ironia in quantità industriale per riempire questo breve libro di sarcasmo.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend if you like Three Men in a Boat. Pure satires are not for me; I like a little plot with my satire.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious. I just wish I knew more about manners and customs and society in Thackeray's time. I'm sure I missed a lot of jokes.

[Tudor Petcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesanta, dar in acelasi timp aproape de limita plictisului. Tinde sa iti provoace aversiune fata de aroganta extraordinara a autorului. Totusi, realista.