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“THE DEVIL'S CODE OF HONOR”: FRENCH INVASION AND THE RETURN OF HISTORY IN VANITY FAIR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2016

Matthew Heitzman*
Affiliation:
Arcadia University

Extract

The final chapter ofVanity Fair's account of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo opens with a scene of public panic in the streets of Brussels. As French cannons sound just outside of the Belgian capital, Thackeray captures the chaos that ensues as the English men and women, who have accompanied the army to Brussels and remained in the city during the battle, begin to receive reports that Napoleon's forces have defeated the Duke of Wellington's army and are marching on the city. Rumor reigns in Brussels as the English civilians seek out one another for increasingly inaccurate reports on the French progress towards the city, and civil tranquility collapses as the public consensus becomes that French forces will soon invade.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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