‘Thackeray also knew what kind of damage a gambling, irresponsible, large, male person could inflict on a wife or a vulnerable woman. And that's also really, really important, I think, for “Vanity Fair”.’

Colin Burrow in our ‘Novel Approaches’ series, on the podcast: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/close-readings-vanity-fair-by-william-makepeace-thackeray