William Makepeace Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip

Carol Hanbery MacKay (University of Texas at Austin)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

The last completed novel of William Makepeace Thackeray,

The Adventures of Philip

was originally serialized in twenty monthly installments in

The Cornhill Magazine

(January 1861-August 1862). Its subtitle,

...on His Way Through the World; Showing Who Robbed Him, Who Helped Him, and Who Passed Him By

, alludes to the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-32) and summarizes the general plotline of the novel. Ostensibly the main character, Philip Firmin is a blustering but good-hearted young man whose fortunes variously rise and fall and rise again during the course of this

Bildungsroman

. At his mother's death, he becomes heir to a fortune of forty-thousand pounds, but he is estranged from his father, a fashionable London physician who has previously seduced and abandoned…

3494 words

Citation: MacKay, Carol Hanbery. "The Adventures of Philip". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15736, accessed 19 March 2024.]

15736 The Adventures of Philip 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.