First published in 1844, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. by Thackeray is a picaresque novel also known as The Luck of Barry Lyndon. It chronicles the life of impoverished Redmond Barry, an Irishman who wants to be an English aristocrat. An opportunist, rake, and gambler, he serves in the Seven Years War, first under the English flag and then, for money, in the Prussian Army. Continuing to play with his luck, he gains wealth in the beginning but eventually is punished for his many lovable imperfections.

This book examines key issues in transnational cinema, film aesthetics, and Irish history through a reading of Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975).

This book opens the curtain on the crucial role played by Victorian and Edwardian novelists in changing views of domestic violence. Examining the mechanisms of domestic violence through the historical lenses of the law, crime, and economics, this study illuminates these novelists’ depictions of wife-battering, including scenes in which women witness their children being beaten or children witness their mothers’ beatings. This book also shows how these representations interacted with changing paradigms of masculinity and femininity at the time. Extending from the decades before the 1857 Divorce Act to the Suffrage era, the book details the changing circumstances of conjugal violence and divorce in England. William Makepeace Thackeray’s The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (1844) and Caroline Norton’s Stuart of Dunleath: A Story of Modern Times (1851) expose the impact of class on reactions to domestic violence. Wilkie Collins’s The Law and the Lady (1875) and Ouida’s (Marie Louise de la Ramé) Moths (1880) depict proto-New Women figures who resist domestic violence, while traditional wife figures continue to fall victim. In Mona Caird’s The Wing of Azrael (1889) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) and “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange” (1904), protagonists exact their own justice on perpetrators of domestic violence. By the Edwardian period, it was clear that legislation alone could not solve the problems of domestic violence. Constance Maud’s No Surrender (1911) adroitly links wife-battering with public violence against suffragettes, exposing the underlying British socio-cultural system that maintained women’s subordination.

Redmond Barry, a spirited young Irishman, embarks on an ambitious journey through 18th-century Europe. Starting from his rural roots in Ireland, he sets his sights on the heights of aristocratic society. Through a series of calculated moves and fortunate encounters, Barry navigates the complexities of courtship and social climbing. His path intertwines with historical events and influential figures, shaping his rise from obscurity to prominence. Yet, beneath the veneer of glamour and success, Barry's journey is fraught with personal sacrifices and moral compromises. William Thackeray's narrative skillfully unfolds Barry Lyndon's saga with a blend of satire and insight into human nature. Through Barry's adventures and misadventures, Thackeray examines the allure of social status and the moral dilemmas faced by those who pursue it relentlessly. WILLIAM THACKERAY [1811-1863] was one of Victorian England’s most prominent authors. Among his most famous works are Vanity Fair [1847-1848] and The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [1844].