Résumé
Résumé de Barry Lyndon
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love rogues, dry humor, and narrators whose excuses betray them, Barry’s campaign to become a gentleman offers a satire of wealth, rank, and social ambition.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Barry Lyndon is a satirical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray about an Irish adventurer who pursues wealth and rank through soldiering, gambling, and marriage in eighteenth-century Europe. Its sharpest pleasure is the gap between Barry’s proud account of himself and the cruelty, vanity, and dishonesty his own words expose.
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Redmond Barry grows up in Ireland with a fierce belief in his family’s importance and his own right to a gentleman’s life. He has little money, but plenty of pride. When his love for his cousin Nora brings him into conflict with an army officer, Barry treats the affair as a test of courage and honor. A duel sends him away from home and into a world where those grand words often cover much less noble motives.
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Who’s who
- Redmond Barry
- An ambitious Irish adventurer and narrator, Barry pursues wealth and rank through soldiering, gambling, and his pursuit of Lady Lyndon.
- Lady Lyndon
- A wealthy married aristocrat, Lady Lyndon attracts Barry through her property and the social standing her position offers.
- The Chevalier de Balibari
- Barry’s Irish uncle is a professional gambler who introduces his nephew to fashionable European society.
- Lord Bullingdon
- Lady Lyndon’s son opposes Barry’s claims to authority and objects to his treatment of the family.
- Nora
- Barry’s cousin and early romantic interest, Nora draws his jealousy through her relationship with an army officer.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 129,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 40 min
- Listening time14 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Barry Lyndon
What is Barry Lyndon about?
Barry Lyndon follows an ambitious Irishman through military service, gambling circles, and the pursuit of a wealthy aristocratic marriage. Thackeray uses Barry’s boastful account to show how a hunger for status can turn courage and resourcefulness into tools of exploitation.
Is Barry Lyndon based on a true story?
Barry Lyndon is fiction, though Thackeray drew inspiration from the life of Andrew Robinson Stoney, an adventurer notorious for his marriage to a wealthy countess. Barry is not a direct historical portrait, and the novel shapes its material into a satire of social ambition.
Why is Barry Lyndon an unreliable narrator?
Barry describes himself as honorable, talented, and unfairly treated, but the actions he reports often contradict those claims. Readers must judge his behavior rather than accept his explanations. Much of the novel’s humor comes from how confidently he supplies evidence against himself.
How is the Barry Lyndon novel different from the film?
Stanley Kubrick’s film follows much of the novel’s broad course but changes incidents and the ending. The largest difference is perspective: Thackeray gives Barry a boastful first-person account, while the film uses an outside narrator and places greater weight on images and restrained emotion.