Victorians had more to them than imperialist ambitions and repressed sexuality. Among other things, their novelists treated language with far more precision than our novelists today. Thackeray himself, though troubled by financial insecurity and tormented by his wife's mental illness, was a meticulous wordsmith who infused his characters with life and wit. For that reason, BARRY LYNDON is one of literature's most believable creations...moral scoundrel but mannered gent.