The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon

The 18th century is the era of adventurers. In search of fortune and wealth, they roam all over Europe—homeless, hiding their true identities under false names and titles, ready for anything. One of the commoners in the army of fortune seekers is the Irishman Redmond Barry. Unprincipled and frivolous, he drinks heavily and has the most vague idea of honor and decency; nevertheless, this life-loving jester proves to be much more likable than the real aristocrats, into whose circle he so desperately strives to break... Thackeray's literary debut, the novel "The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon," published in 1844, had a tumultuous fate. Ruined by Victorian critics who did not understand or accept Thackeray's elegant, caustic, and witty stylization as a British "picaresque novel" of the 18th century, it was completely forgotten during the author's lifetime; however, in the 20th century, it gained well-deserved fame, entered the golden fund of the classics of world literature, and served as the basis for Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece "Barry Lyndon."