Pelham — Complete
1828
Henry Pelham enters the world armed with nothing but a family name, a precarious fortune, and the desperate ambition to be somebody. In this witty,acid portrait of Regency high society, Bulwer Lytton turns his merciless eye on the elaborate theater of status: the dinners that bankrupt the hopeful, the connections that must be cultivated, the appearances that must be maintained at all costs. Pelham is both observer and participant in this world of elegant poverty and desperate pride, watching his parents navigate the humiliations of genteel decline while dreaming of the Eton that will launch him into更高的 circles. At school, he forms a fateful friendship with Reginald Glanville, setting in motion a lifelong drama of rivalry, secrets, and the impossible task of being truly known. Written when Lytton was just twenty-one, this novel crackles with youthful energy and savage precision. It is a book about the small cruelties of society, the way wealth and breeding collide, and one young man's attempt to forge an identity worthy of his ambitions.
