Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: English fiction; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Short Stories; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

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Paperback, campus classic book TK 730, 477 pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The beginning has me hooked.
I was hooked from the minute I began "Far From the Madding Crowd."

Hardy's descriptions of "Wessex" take me back to my halcyon days in Yorkshire -- yes, two completely different regions, but in many respects, so similar.

This may be the best writing ever, describing the Victorian landscape, by any author.Every page has at least one memorable line, and most have more.Just one example, Hardy describing a senior citizen who seems to live on forever: "Indeed, he seemed to approach the grave as a hyperbolic curve approaches a straight line -- less directly as it got nearer, till it was doubtful if he would ever reach it at all."

In this day of the austerity of Cormac, Hardy's writing is refreshing.For an aspiring writer, Hardy provides an opportunity for limitless phrase collecting.

[Did Hardy provide first example of "product placement" when he wrote "...the vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which lay between the Communion people..."?That reference appears in the second paragraph of the very first chapter in "Madding Crowd." Hardy had published a marginally successful novel with the title "A Laodicean: A Story of Today" some years earlier.]

This is a book best read by romantics later in life who have experienced at least one great love.

... Read more

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Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Rosemarie Morgan with Shannon Russell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Entertaining- a relatively quick and satisfying read.
Far from the Madding Crowd is a complicated love story that demonstrates how small actions can have huge consequences, and that "time and chance happen to us all."I am glad I read it, and did enjoy the story and the ultimately happy ending.I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars because it is not nearly the masterpiece that Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urberville's is.His look into the psyche of a woman at that time period cannot compare to the literature written by his female contemporaries, however, this book is worth the time.

excellent reading
The lady who's reading this is super-competent and reads well, imitating voices and varying her pace.

Her default voice, if you will, has a bit of a strong northern accent for my taste, though.

It is the original text, but it is abridged.

The five stars are for the reading; the novel itself I'd give only three.

One of the All-Time Greats of English Lit
A new bride, a screwdriver and the coffin in the sitting room -- if for no other reason, this book is a MUST for that scene.

I take issue with the reviewer who described Bathsheba as "not an evil person," but rather "a force of nature."In fact, she's the protagonist of the story.Like any tragic hero, she's flawed, and by her own unique brand of hubris.With her spunkiness, grit, beauty and abject stupidity about men, she's more of a thinking person's Scarlett O'Hara, if you ask me.

My first Hardy novel, and will not be the last
It took me a while to get into the author's style of writing, along with the dialect of the country folk, but once into it and the story it was very enjoyable. There are times where the author goes on with descriptions of the countryside, farming life, etc. and the story lulls a bit at those times, but then picks up again.

All in all well told and I am looking forward to more from this author.

Forces of Nature
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, the first of Thomas Hardy's 'Wessex' novels, tells the story of a small troupe of farmers and their workers in a sheep-farming community in the fictitious county of 'Wessex'.

Gabriel Oak has been a shepherd since his teenage years, as his father was before him, but he's moved up and purchased, on credit, his own farm. The work is hard, but he is confident that he will succeed, and takes pride in being his own man. Then one day, a new woman arrives in town. Bathsheeba Everdene is beautiful, headstrong, intelligent, but incurably vain; Farmer Oak falls in love with her immediately. A few months later, he proposes, and is utterly rejected. Bathsheeba moves on to care for her dying uncle, and take over his farm. Gabriel continues farming - until tragedy strikes.

He and Bathsheeba will cross paths again, this time not as lovers, but as mistress and servant. Bathsheeba's beauty, vanity and impetuousness leave a trail of carnage in her wake, and Gabriel can only watch on as lives are destroyed, farms are ruined, and his own heart is crushed repeatedly.

Hardy is famous for his fatalism, and this is displayed no more than in the character of Bathsheba Everdene. She is not an evil person, as the above summary would suggest - but her stunning beauty and fierce intelligence combine with her vanity and impulsivity to create something like a force of nature, and though she means only good she seems to be able to do nothing but wrong by those who care for her. She has no more control over her nature than she does over the weather. One of the most interesting aspects of this character is that her vices - vanity, impulsivity, which Hardy attributes to her being young and beautiful - lead to the downfall of others, but she is continuously saved from downfall by her own intelligence and inner personal strength.

REal tragedy finally does strike Bathsheba, but rather than let it destroy her as retribution for her wicked ways, she grows from it. We may not be able to escape the hardship of life, Hardy seems to be saying, but we can grow and prosper by learning from it.

This was a fantastically entertaining book. The only warning that I could give with it is that it is slow-moving. The action comes in fits and spurts, and Hardy has a penchant for elaborate descriptions of the countryside, for farmhouses, churches and festivals. They are beautifully written, but take time to digest fully. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Elfride Swancourt is the daughter of the Rector of Endelstow, a remote sea-swept parish in Corwall based on St Juliot, where Hardy began A Pair of Blue Eyes during the beginning of his courtship of his first wife, Emma. Blue-eyed and high-spirited, Elfride has little experience of the world beyond, and becomes entangled with two men: the boyish architect, Stephen Smith, and the older literary man, Henry Knight.The former friends become rivals, and Elfride faces an agonizing choice.
Written at a crucial time in Hardy's life, A Pair of Blue Eyes expresses more directly than any of his novels the events and social forces that made him the writer he was. Elfride's dilemma mirrors the difficult decision Hardy himself had to make with this novel: to pursue the profession of architecture, where he was established, or literature, where he had yet to make his name.This updated edition contains a new introduction, bibliography, and chronology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

if you are a Hardy fan, this one you will like
One of the least known of Hardy's novels, it is a good one.Good twist at the end, too.The scenarios and scenes were all quite good.

Not Hardy's best, but nevertheless, fantastic!
***Possible Spoilers***

I admit that this is a slightly lesser novel than many of Hardy's other masterpieces, but the overall quality of the prose is so high that I have to give it a 5-star rating.(Especially when you considerthe junky popular fiction that surrounds us). Hardy is a developing novelist in "A Pair of Blue Eyes" and the Oxford edition has an interesting essay about the autobiographical elements of the text. The story of Elfride, Stephen and Henry is moving and at times quite mesmorizing. Although the story doesn't carry the same level of passionate angst between Eustacia and Wildeve in "The Return of the Native", this fine novel is obviously an exercise for Hardy to hone those writing skills that later left ussome of the greatest novels in the English language. For me, the famous "cliffhanger" scene lived up to my expectations, although I was surprised that it does not occur near the novel's end. Then I learned that the novel first appeared in serialized form, so Hardy literally left English readers "hanging", not knowing what was going to happen to Henry who was hanging off a cliff while Elfride looks on. The final 10 or 15 pages made me hold my breath as I waited to see the conclusion of the novel, even though Hardy doesn't make great efforts to hide the outcome from the reader. A great book is one in which we feel compelled to finish as quickly as we can, even though we may already know the outcome of the story. For me, then, this is a great book!
Recommended!

4 and 1/2 Stars -- Hardy's Most Underrated Work
Thomas Hardy's first two published novels, Desperate Remedies and Under the Greenwood Tree, were flawed but interesting works with significant promise, but A Pair of Blue Eyes was a quantum leap. It would be hard to find a greater improvement from one book to the next. Where the first two suggested that Hardy might someday be a notable writer, it proved him a great one. It has some similarities with the first two but essentially points at the great novels to come. The latter are so excellent that Hardy is still best known for them. This is deserved but a true shame for A Pair of Blue Eyes, which has been overshadowed to the extent that it is now Hardy's most underrated novel and his most undeservedly underread. As Hardy's reputation remains high, this will hopefully soon be corrected, as it deserves to take its long-awaited place near his best work.

The novel has much in common with most of Hardy's fiction before and after, not least very strong sense of place. Perhaps no other novelist equals him here. He not only has interesting, detailed, and often beautifully lyrical descriptions of his settings but also makes them an integral part of the story as few writers can. His settings are never mere backdrop. Wessex - the part-real, part-dream area based on his native Southwest England that he made world famous - was not formally launched until his next novel, but he is well on his way toward it here. This is a proto-Wessex novel with many of the elements so loved and acclaimed in more famous works. The setting is closely based on his wife's native Cornwall, notable as the farthest west Hardy ever set a novel. It is easy to see from the loving, luscious descriptions that the area had a near-sacred significance for him. These elements were present in the first two novels but are significantly more developed here.

Another Hardy characteristic is present - a strong heroine. His first two books had this, but he goes much further here, making the heroine the protagonist. The first two words give her unforgettable name - Elfride Swancourt -, and the focus rarely leaves her. From a later feminist perspective, she was one of the more interesting female characters to appear up to that point (1873). It is quickly clear that Hardy had a far higher view of women than most people of his time, especially men. Elfride is intelligent, educated, and generally capable - no stock Victorian angel in the house. She quickly wins our sympathy; we truly feel for and easily identify with her. That said, Hardy had no intention of painting a perfect character; she is also vain, prone to melodrama and trifling, and has a dependent streak. Above all, though, she is interesting. It has long been assumed that she is largely based on Hardy's wife, and biographers have shown how this is true to a certain extent, but those who thought her a near-exact likeness overestimated. The important thing in any case is not to look for parallels with Hardy's life but to take her on her own considerable terms.

Several other characters are also interesting. This is a strong improvement over the first two novels, which had little character development. Elfride's father is little more than a stock overbearing father/pretentious preacher, but the two main male characters are of great interest:Stephen Smith the architect and Henry Knight the scholar. Many have long assumed the former is a self-portrait, but Hardy claimed the latter was more like him. The truth is that there are elements of him in both but that neither is anywhere near an exact portrait. They are in any event interesting and sympathetic in different ways. Both have clear faults, not least a certain selfishness, but we feel for both, making their love triangle all the more dramatic and emotional.

Perhaps the biggest improvement and clearest sign of what was to come is how Hardy handles the plot. Leading Victorian critic George Meredith read his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, and suggested he write a book with more plot. Hardy eventually destroyed this tentative work and put some of it into Desperate Remedies, which has a sensational plot typical of the era's popular novels. It is entertaining and suspenseful but sometimes too melodramatic for its own good. Under the Greenwood Tree drops this but occasionally veers too far in the other direction, arguably becoming overly simple and not interesting enough. A Pair of Blue Eyes also has a very simple plot - essentially nothing more than a standard love triangle -, but the handling is masterful. Hardy weaves several threads together with foreshadowing and suspense to create an extremely moving and utterly engrossing story. The construction is so tight that it is nothing short of brilliant; one could almost use this as a blueprint for how to write a great novel.

Yet this is no dry realist work. Hardy indeed considered it one of his "Romances and Fantasies," and there is an air of fantasy hanging over much of the tale. The story is put forth so that it has an almost mythic quality, and Elfride has some characteristics common to these genres' heroines. However, giving the book such a cut and dried label does it a major injustice. Interestingly, it perhaps relies less on melodramatic coincidence than any Hardy novel; some who dislike his fiction do so in large part because of this and thus may prefer A Pair of Blue Eyes over more famous work. However, in striking contrast to the first two books but very much like later masterworks, the grand sweep of the story collapses in a way that leaves an overarching view of the tragedy that is humanity. Hardy had a very dark view of life that comes across very clearly here - though, unlike some later works, it is not really clear until the last few pages. His artistry is tightly controlled and immaculately executed, putting his bleak vision forth in full force. Also drastically different from the first two novels but in common with the later is Hardy's early dramatization of what he later termed the Imminent Will - an unconscious force governing human action. It is not merely that he believes the human condition is drastically dark; it is also beyond our control. We are less than insignificant on the cosmic scale, and there is no real, much less a rational, purpose to existence; at least as significantly, there is no benevolent force behind it all to help or even listen. This gives a good indication of the novel's weightier elements, but Hardy was always careful to make such things serve the story. His greatest fiction is philosophical in the broad sense but never preachy or didactic and rarely heavy-handed. This is the first time he attempted such an ambitious undertaking, and he succeeds brilliantly.

Other classic Hardy themes abound:the role of women, the nature of love, the dark side of human nature, etc. We must never forget that he wrote fiction in the Victorian era; his views were so far ahead of their time that the divergence eventually became so great that he stopped writing novels. He always struggled with censorship, and A Pair of Blue Eyes is no exception. In contrast to many of the other novels, he did not have to significantly alter original intentions after an editor's objections but, having learned from bitter early experience, took care to guard some of his more unpopular views. The novel thus makes significant use of imagery to get some of its points forth, not least sexuality; there is much treasure for Freudians. Hardy's characteristic religious criticism is also there for the discerning. It should be clear enough in the overall themes and ending for most thinking people, but there are also more direct hints - not least Elfride's dislikable preacher father.

There are many other reasons to read this book, especially for fans. I would not recommend starting with it, as Hardy was still developing what became his characteristic prose style. Many signs of it are here, including a highly atypical vocabulary, but the prose is still awkward in some places. Hardy soon ironed out these minor flaws, but the enthusiastic lack of polish has its own charm. Fans and critics familiar with his best work will enjoy seeing it at a stage well beyond embryo but less than full fruition. Those conversant with Hardy's life and thought will find much else to appreciate and enjoy. First and foremost, the novel is autobiographical to a large extent, based partly on Hardy's then-ongoing courtship with what became his wife. The degree of this has often been exaggerated, but there is more than enough crossover to interest the dedicated; indeed, the topic is still popular with Hardy scholars. Of particular significance are the many architectural references. Hardy left school at sixteen to become an architect, practicing for over a decade, and this book gives great evidence of his knowledge. As in much of his other work, many architectural terms are thrown about, and A Pair of Blue Eyes stands out for focusing specifically on neo-gothic church restoration. This parallels most of Hardy's own architectural work, and he met his wife in a manner very similar to how Stephen meets Elfride. All this and much more will fascinate fans and scholars and likely lead relative newcomers to discover more about Hardy's work and life.

One cannot review A Pair of Blue Eyes without mentioning its most famous scene - Knight and Elfride's literal cliffhanger. It got the book much attention and continues to be its focal point and was also highly influential. Novels were then serialized in periodicals before being published in book form, and writers taxed their ingenuity to keep readers interested enough to continue reading. Hardy's drastic and novel solution spawned many imitations continuing to this day, and the word "cliffhanger" itself apparently derives from reference to it. Separating it from the many imitations is how arises naturally from the story. The cliff is a natural feature of the scenery - indeed based on a real one -, there is significant foreshadowing, and the event is precipitated plausibly. Most importantly, it is not just an excuse for cheap thrills - is in fact secondary to Hardy's prime purpose of writing about individual lives' insignificance. The passage describing Knight's thoughts as he hangs is among Hardy's best writing - philosophical yet suspenseful. Less plausible is how Knight is saved, but even here Hardy has an ulterior motive - not least sexual imagery, as who could forget his description of Eflride wearing only her "diaphanous exterior robe"? The minor controversy over this last hinted at the full-blown attacks he would endure for transgressing his era's strict sexual propriety.

Hardy wrote better novels than A Pair of Blue Eyes - ones with more complicated plots, more grandly sweeping execution, etc. It thus does not belong with his three or four best, but that still makes it better than nearly any other writer's masterpiece. It is an absolute must for fans and critics, and while others should not start here, they should not wait long.

An early work of Thomas Hardy
A Pair of Blue Eyes is one of Thomas Hardy's lesser known novels. As with this other works of fiction it is set in the Wessex region of England (essentially the southwestern part of the country) and relates to the efforts of ordinary people to find happiness in love and life.The book centers around three characters. Elfride Swancourt is a young (18) girl who lives with her vicar father in Endelson Vicarage in Lower Wessex. Stephen Smith is a young (21) architect who comes to the vicarage to make some drawings preparatory to his firm doing some architectural work.As we might expect he and Elfride fall in love but their marriage is opposed by the vicar because of Stephen's low social standing--his parents live in the area and his father is a mason.The couple pledge their love for each other and after an abortive elopement attempt Stephen goes off to India to seek his fortune.

The widowed, socially ambitious vicar marries a much older (and richer) woman and together they aspire for Elfride to marry into a higher social status.At this point a relative of the new Mrs. Swancourt, Henry Knight, comes to visit. Knight is older (32) and more sophisticated, working as a lawyer and literary reviewer. He is also the mentor of Stephen who has told Efride of his admiration for the older man.Efride soon comes to be attracted to Knight, who is naïve in love affairs but comes to return her love. Events lead to the inevitable tragic climax in Hardy's novels when Stephen returns from India hoping to gain the hand of Elfride.

In my view Elfride is not a tragic heroine because she brings about her downfall by her own acts. A true tragic hero or heroine suffers because of the acts of others or because of circumstances beyond his or her control.In Jude the Obscure, for example, what happens to Jude is not of his doing and thus what happens to him is truly tragic.But Elfride is unfaithful, deceitful and immature and it is these attributes that lead to her final consequences.

One of the joys of reading Hardy is his portrayal of ordinary people in Wessex. For example, when Stephen returns from India his parents have a pig killed and plan a party for him. The professional pig killer comes to the Smith household, as do another couple, William Worm, a jack of all trades who hears a constant buzzing in his head and his new bride.Mrs. Worm and Mrs. Smith get into a discussion over growing flowers, while the men talk about local matters. In particular the pig killer describes some pigs he has killed including one that was deaf (but tasted good!) and one with rheumatism. The book also displays the cultural values of the time and place as well as the physical beauty of the countryside.

A Pair of Blue Eyes is an early work of Hardy's and thus lacks the depth of his more developed works--Far from the Maddening Crowd, Jude the Obscure, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, to name but three. Still, it is worth reading if you understand that the ending will be tragic.

A fun introduction to Hardy
This is Hardy's third novel (1873), and is set in the southwest area of England (Cornwall), where he met his first wife. It is the story of young, impetuous Elfride, and her romance with two men: the young architect Stephen Smith and the urbane, educated lawyer, Henry Knight. As common with his other novels, it reflects elements of tragedy, irony, and class advancement. Elfride and Knight are low middle-class persons trying to advance in society and in love. Though not as intricate and challenging as his later novels, it is an entertaining and illuminating read nonetheless. ... Read more

Product Description
Set in the fictional town of Casterbridge, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" is Thomas Hardy's tragic story of Michael Henchard who over indulges in alcohol at a county fair and decides to auction off his wife and daughter to a sailor. When he recovers his sobriety Mr. Henchard realizes his mistake but it is too late to get his family back. Devastated he decides not to touch alcohol again for the next twenty-one years. The novel advances eighteen years to find the teetotaling Henchard as the Mayor of Casterbridge and a successful grain merchant. When his wife and daughter return to town a precipitous decline in Henchard's fortune is set in motion. One of Hardy's Wessex novels, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" is a classic tragic story of the consequences of alcohol abuse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Drinking Too Much Involves Long-Lasting Consequences
I have had a love/hate relationship to Thomas Hardy for about 9 years now.It stems from a class I took in college on Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen - that included a trip to England to see some of the places where they lived and wrote about.The reason I have an aversion to Hardy is because the professor was in lurve with Hardy, and if you wrote anything in your papers or responses that challenged what she thought about him or his work, you automatically got a `C'.Delightful, that was.Needless to say, I took copious notes after that first bad paper and fell in line with her opinion.I haven't picked up a Thomas Hardy book since then, until, of course, now.It wasn't because I disliked him or his writing, just that bad experience that took root and made me put off reading anything else by him.

And then I came across a free copy of The Mayor of Casterbridge, and I figured, why not?I have a Dover Thrift edition that's preface is an essay Hardy wrote entitled, "The Science of Fiction."It's an intriguing look by the author himself of what he was doing in this book, namely letting us observe everything that is going on that the characters are not all aware of themselves.It's not that they couldn't be, but due to their natures, positions, or ideas, they miss crucial elements that could affect their futures.

The story opens with Michael Henchard, his wife Susan, and their daughter Elizabeth-Jane walking as Michael is looking for work.They stop at a fair to get something to eat, and that is where things start going right, and wrong, for these three characters.Michael has a bit too much to drink, and thinks it a great joke to offer his wife to the highest bidder.This is not the first time he's done this, but it is the first time that a man takes him up on his offer, and his wife leaves him with their daughter.He repents of his mistake in the morning, but by then it is too late, for they are gone.

The story is really that of Michael Henchard, and the things he does for unselfish and selfish reasons.It really made me think about the choices we make as individuals, and what the consequences are to ourselves and to those around us.Even though Michael makes bad choices again and again (as do others), you still feel bad for him while wanting to scream at him that he's an idiot (among others).

You will get caught up in the story of Michael, Elizabeth-Jane, Donald Farfrae, and Lucetta, wondering if things will ever be right for this interesting group of people.Almost all have a secret to hide, yet the innocent are usually the ones punished before their beloved persecutors receive what is coming to them.

Recommended To:
* Anyone who is interested in life's choices and the consequences thereof
* British Literature fans

A Classic
This is a classic novel that everyone should read!It has love, passion, betrayal,all those thing that modern day soaps have!(but written better) ... Read more

Product Description
Thomas Hardy's first love was poetry. It was not until 1898, when he was 58, that his first book of poetry, Wessex Poems was published. For the final years of his life he abandoned fiction and devoted himself entirely to poetry; he is now not only regarded as one of the most important English novelists but is also a poet of major stature and increasing popularity. The Complete Poems includes Hardy's more than 900 poems, complemented by detailed notes. Collected here are his eight books of verse, all the uncollected poems, Domicilium, and the songs from The Dynasts. This new edition contains an additional poem, The Sound of Her. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Hardy's First Love
Hardy's novels evoke dark moods and frequently feature innocent victims of others tragic flaws. Strangely his poetry is a mixture of light and dark but leaning heavily on the light as his focus on memory of loves lost and other themes can be uplifting rather than grim. I've always found it fascinating that a novelist as richly talented as Hardy would turn from fiction and concentrate only on poetry in his later years. His novels are among my very favorites and I read them repeatedly. For me, having this collection of his poems is icing on the cake even though I am not a frequent reader of poetry. Thomas Hardy was a literary genius and these poems are infused with his artistic integrity.

Perfect
Perfect! What more needs to be said? This collection was delicious and is a treasure for any Hardy fan. Enjoy every bite!!

Hardy Poems
The book was in excellent condition and arrived as promptly as one could expect.As of this date I really haven't had a bad experience with any of my book orders.Thanks so much.

Great poems from a great novelist
Considering how depressing Hardy's novels can be, his poems are curiously uplifting, full of descriptive power and a love of rural England.Among his classics are "The Darkling Thrush", "Channel Firing" (great World War I poem), and "The Oxen" (beautiful Christmas poem about nostalgia and faith).

Like his novels, the poems illustrate Hardy's capturing of the past and his sense of something greater than us shaping our lives and our feelings.These are apparent in "Last Words to a Dumb Friend", his lament for his deceased cat.In this, the very home where the cat lived seems to resonate with the cat once he has passed to "the Dim" (i.e., beyond Death):

"And this house, which scarcely took
Impress from his little look,
By his faring to the Dim(NOTE: faring = travelling)
Grows all eloquent of him."

The Poet ofPast Time and Past Love
Hardy had a life-long fascination with the paradox of memory: how people, events, and even isolated feelings can be buried by time and later resurrected in the fullness of emotional memory. His central aesthetic principle is that of `the exhumed emotion,' which one can wryly interpret as a graveyard variant of Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquillity." But for Hardy, it was a mysterious capability, like his comment that "I am cut out by nature for a ghost-seer." Hardy's aesthetic of the "grotesque" frequently features past lovers as ghosts or elusive phantoms.

In"She, to HimIII" he muses on the "souls of Now" who would disjoint / The mind from memory, making Life all aim, / And nothing left for Love to look upon." In this brief phrase, from the start of his career, can be found four of the major themes of his entire life and work: the present ("Now"), memory (past), Life, and Love, all in tension with one another.

The volume contains innumerable poems of unrequited love, regretted love, guilty love, repentant love, etc. etc. One of the great English poets of the 20th century. Ranks with Yeats and above Heaney. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Thomas Hardy:Selected Poems
The introduction by Robert Mezey was expecially gratifying.This was the right quantity of poems to suit my interest.The format of the book was pleasing.Everything about the book and the anthology has the right feel about it to my taste.

A minor disclaimer
Despite the increasing place Hardy's poetry has in the canon of English Literature it seems to me that he falls short of the very first rank. While he has a clanking originality of his own his poetry always seems to me lacking in a deeper soul music and sympathy. Consider one of his most well- known poems, 'Hap'
HAP

If but some vengefulgod would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh:"Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"
Then wouldI bear it , clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.

But not so.How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
-Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan...
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

This poem centers on a basic Hardy theme, the cruelty of chance and accident which rule the world. Or to say this another way the lack of atraditional caring God who makes order and sense of the world.
While it is true that I am not especially enamored of this idea as basis for one's ultimate world- view my objection to the poem comes for other reasons. I do not think that this kind of abstract explaining is very effective as poetry.I again do not feel its music or deep soulfulness.
Again I may be completely wrong about this.

one of the greatest poetry collections
After the Library of America edition of Robert Frost's poetry, this might be the best collection of poetry there is. Not only is Hardy one of the best poets ever (easily top five in the English language), but Mezey does a great job at putting together this collection. He selects the best of Hardy's poetry and a highly representative selection as well. His introduction is very well written and highly informative. It's like taking a quick class on Hardy. The poems are very much annotated, almost too much, but the notes are at the back of the book, so they are unobtrusive. There is a chronology and Mezey includes a few quotes, some of them quite witty, from Hardy. And all for an affordable price. You really can't beat this, and Hardy is one of those poets that should be on everyone's shelf.

A quick list of my favorite Hardy poems: Hap; Neutral Tones; At a Hasty Wedding; The Last Chrysanthemum; The Darkling Thrush; Mad Judy; The Ruined Maid; The Man He Killed; Channel Firing; Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?; Without Ceremony; The Haunter; The Voice; His Visitor; She Charged Me; At Tea; Over the Coffin; In the Moonlight; Near Lanivet, 1872; Something Tapped; The Ballet; A Backward Spring; At a Country Fair; A Night in November.

The Best Hardy Collection
If you are looking for a collection of Hardy's poetry, look no farther than this collection. The Penguin editors have done an incredible job of organizing the dense, complex body of Hardy's work into a very readable collection. This is more than just a simple "Hardy's greatesthits." Yes, there are the standard favorites here, but there is alsoan impressive collection of the writer's more obscure work. Reading theentire contents of this book is the best way to see the breadth of Hardy'sexistential and metaphysical angst. ... Read more

Product Description
The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy is an essential introduction to this most enigmatic of writers. These newly commissioned essays from an international team of contributors comprise a general overview of all of Thomas Hardy's work and specific demonstrations of his ideas and literary skills. Individual essays explore Hardy's biography, aesthetics, his famous attachment to Wessex, and the impact on his work of developments in science, religion and philosophy in the late-nineteenth century. The volume also contains a detailed chronology of Hardy's life, and a guide to further reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles.But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable.When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her and she faces an agonizing moral choice.
Hardy's indictment of society's double standards, and his depiction of Tess as "a pure woman," caused controversy in his day and has held the imagination of readers ever since. Hardy thought it his finest novel, and Tess the most deeply felt character he ever created.This unique critical text is taken from the authoritative Clarendon edition, which is based on the manuscript collated with all Hardy's subsequent revisions. ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Millgate's classic biography of Thomas Hardy, was first published in 1982. Much new information about Hardy has since become available, often in volumes edited or co-edited by Millgate himself, and many established assumptions have been challenged and revolutionized by scholarly research. In this extensively revised, fully reconsidered, and considerably-expanded new edition Millgate, the world's leading Hardy scholar, draws not only upon these new materials but upon an exceptional understanding of Hardy gained from long immersion in the study of his life and work. Many large and small aspects of Hardy's life are here freshly illuminated, including his family background, his fumbling self-education as a poet, his difficult relations with his first wife and hers with his family, his sexual infatuations, his secret collaborations with aspiring women writers, his clandestine composition of his own official biography, and the memory-invoking techniques by which he sustained his remarkable creativity into extreme old age. Thorough, authoritative and eminently readable, Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited will become the standard life of Hardy for a new generation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Volume Not To Be Missed
This is not a volume to be passed over. Although Millgate doesn't detail the expansions and revisions to his acclaimed biography of 1982, his learning, refinements, and discriminations make this a new work. Its like will not be found over any horizon you may be looking for--anytime soon.

Definitive Thomas Hardy.
Michael Millgate knows his Hardy.After all, he is perhaps the world's leading Thomas Hardy scholar. After publishing his Hardy biography in 1982, Professor Millgate went on to edit the COLLECTED LETTERS OF THOMAS HARDY 1926-27 (1988) and THOMAS HARDY: SELECTED LETTERS (1990). Those letters contained new information about Hardy, which Millgate incorporates into this fully revised, definitive new study of Hardy's life and work.

Because Hardy was such an intensely private person who carefully guarded the pariculars of his life, examining his life in detail was clearly no easy task.However, Millgate not only triumphs in bringing his subject to life in this 625-page biography, but also succeeds in demonstrating that "numerous aspects of A PAIR OF BLUE EYES, UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE, and even FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD are clearly autobiographical, and the later evidence of THE WOODLANDERS, TESS OF THE DURBERVILLES, and JUDE urges the conclusion that Hardy's best work tended to have strong and specific roots in his own background and experience" (pp. 186-7).Millgate follows the life of Thomas Hardy from his "solitary" and "remarkably uneventful" childhood (p. 39) in Bockhampton, to his architectural studies (p. 55), through his his difficult marriage to his first wife, Emma (an agnostic woman who became bleakly evangelical--much like Sue Brideshead in JUDE), to his transition from "pessimistic" novelist to an esteemed poet in his later years.Along the way, in his careful analysis of Hardy's writing, Millgate shows that Hardy was a "Pessimistic Meliorist" (p. 378), who "could see only an incomprehensible and probably meaningless universe," but who also "cared deeply about the human condition, perceived value in individual lives, asserted such traditional and Christian values as charity and what he liked to call 'loving kindness,' and thought that things could and indeed get better" (p. 379).

For those, like me, who are fascinated with Thomas Hardy and his novels, this equally fascinating biography should be considered required reading.

G. Merritt ... Read more

Product Description
Love and the erratic heart are at the center of Hardy's "woodland story." Set in the beautiful Blackmoor Vale, The Woodlanders concerns the fortunes of Giles Winterborne, whose love for the well-to-do Grace Melbury is challenged by the arrival of the dashing and dissolute doctor, Edred Fitzpiers. When the mysterious Felice Charmond further complicates the romantic entanglements, marital choice and class mobility become inextricably linked. Hardy's powerful novel depicts individuals in thrall to desire and the natural law that motivates them.

This is the only critical edition of the novel, which was Hardy's own favorite "as a story," that is based on a comprehensive study of the manuscript and incorporates later revisions. The new introduction by Penny Boumelha considers the novel in the context of Hardy's career, the characters' relationships with one another, the role of destiny and individual choice, narrative perspective, and the community. This edition also contains a new and up-to-date bibliography and a new chronology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

4.75 Stars -- A Near Masterpiece
The Woodlanders is not Thomas Hardy's most famous or acclaimed work but was his own favorite among his novels, and many - perhaps most - fans put it in his top tier. This diehard Hardy reader puts it just below that, which is to say it is truly great. Neophytes should read better-known works first, but everyone should stop here quite soon.

Perhaps the most immediately attractive aspect is its vibrant setting. Hardy seems to truly bring The Woodlands to life, describing with a vivid precision that will make it linger in the mind long after reading. It is my favorite Hardy setting other than The Return of the Native's Egdon Heath and many fans' favorite. Most Hardy novels and much of his poetry is set in what he called Wessex - a part-real, part-dream area, based on his native Southwest England, that he made world famous. Perhaps no one equals his profound sense of place; he describes scenes so believably and importantly that they become integral to the story. This is a preeminent example. All the Wessex novels are valuable for showing how a long-vanished world looked and how its people thought, spoke, and lived but none perhaps more so than this. The Woodlands are probably the most rural part of Wessex, which truly says much - a handful of cottages scattered among a thick forest. The real places on which Hardy based the area were almost gone by the time of the book (1887) - had indeed started going even before his 1840 birth - and are certainly gone now, as is nearly every remotely similar place in the Western world. Hardy's descriptive power thus does us a great service by making such a long-lost place seem so real that we not only seem to see it but feel and smell it also. As in The Return, the setting is so important that it is practically a character - arguably even the most important. The woods are described somewhat anthropomorphically and are essential to the plot in many ways. Anyone who thinks such things can never be truly important to a story should read this; literature has few better examples.

Characterization is also strong. This was always a Hardy high point, and The Woodlanders has some truly memorable personages:the intelligent and well-educated Grace, who has in many ways overcome her upbringing's conventional shortcomings but is also a true Woodlands native; Giles, who has genuinely noble feelings and sentiments but is held back in the world's eyes by lack of education and a life tied to the Woodlands; Fitzpiers, who is well-educated, intelligent, and capable but selfish, hedonistic, and in other ways loathsome; Melbury, who truly loves and wants the best for his daughter Grace and has other admirable qualities but whose lack of insight sometimes leads to rash decisions and unfortunate consequences; Marty, a slight, lonely figure who is hard-working and capable of great love but virtually unnoticed by all; the beautiful and lofty but eccentric and essentially selfish Mrs. Charmond; and more. Also, as often with Hardy, there is a band of colorful rustics serving as a sort of chorus. They add considerably to the local depiction, give some much-needed comic relief, and are important in discussing some of the major themes in less overt ways, making them more conventionally palatable and driving them home in a sense very different from the narration's high seriousness but at least as effective. This last is particularly important just before the end, as they get the last word on marriage, the main theme, subtly zeroing in on Hardy's point.

The most interesting character now - as probably then - is Grace. Hardy is well-known for his heroines, and though not his most famous or fascinating, she is very intriguing in her own right. Like many Hardy heroines, she is educated well above most women of her era, which her class and location make all the more notable. Hardy again shows how unfairly such women were treated in an unapologetically sexist society; even with her many acquired and natural charms, Grace is unprepared for many of life's most important challenges because women were simply not given an opportunity. Even those in her position had few options other than marriage, and it is quickly apparent how naïve and ignorant even she is in this all-important area because of the relatively sheltered lives virtually all Victorian women lived.

Marriage and human love relationships generally are the book's main concern; they are variously dramatized and reflected on in a larger sense. This had much contemporary relevance, but what might be called Hardy's philosophical approach also makes it of great universal important. Love is after all probably the most ubiquitous human feeling, and Hardy dealt with it often, frequently focusing on marriage's monolithic regulatory role. He once wrote in his journal that love thrives on propinquity but dies on contact - a claim he often fictionalized but perhaps never as clearly or fully as here. The Woodlanders is a savage yet subtle critique of the marriage institution in which Hardy's own troubled marriage and advanced views led him to lose faith. He later criticized it more overtly in The Well-Beloved and Jude the Obscure, but this condemnation is at least as strong for those willing to read between proverbial lines. More generally, the book paints a very bleak picture of human interaction itself; characters without fail attach themselves to the wrong person, love never being requited. Hardy thought the chances of mutual love reaching full fruition were near nil, and this is perhaps his most startling example. It may be a bit bleak for some, but his point is well made.

Another major theme is class. Hardy had advanced views here also, which showed up again and again in his work, not least in this novel. Grace and her father are rare examples of nineteenth-century British upward mobility; there is much to admire in her concerted education and his hard work, but the book shows just how hard it was to overcome an unfair system that brands one from birth. Moving up increases their money and knowledge but makes human interaction very difficult; they are still looked down on by upper classes, but an understandable pride makes them hesitate about mixing with their own, most of whom are newly intimidated in any case. All this keeps Grace from marrying Giles, her true love, in favor of the aristocrat Fitzpiers, with dire consequences. Giles himself is now nervous about making his love known yet also incapable of returning Marty's more accessible affection. Fitzpiers is immediately struck by Grace but distraught when he realizes her class; unable to overcome desire, he succumbs but finds it impossible to mix with lower classes, much to the detriment of both. Hardy's sympathy clearly lies with the lower classes, and people like Henry James unsurprisingly attacked the book for vilifying the upper classes, who are portrayed as selfish, snobbish, pleasure-seeking, and despicable with few or no redeeming qualities. The conversation between Giles and Fitzpiers when the latter first sees Grace drives in this nail most forcefully - indeed unforgettably; it is one of Hardy's most powerful and thought-provoking scenes -, but it is present throughout in varying guises.

As all this suggests, there is a strong fatalistic streak. Characters seem unable to overcome facts of birth and upbringing and are frequently victims of what might be called bad luck or cruel fate; chance and coincidence rarely turn out well. This is true for much of Hardy's work, and his later epic poem The Dynasts detailed what he called the Imminent Will, a blind force controlling human affairs, which had been implied here and elsewhere. Hardy was profoundly aware of humanity's less than microscopic cosmic significance and had long ceased to believe that life is overseen by any force that is benevolent or sympathetic to people. This can all be gleaned in The Woodlanders. It is not truly tragic like many of his novels, and the ending in particular at least has a sort of equilibrium - especially in contrast to the catastrophic ones he often favored -, though he elsewhere made clear that Fitzpiers will roam again. However, the book has many dark spots, and its thinly veiled social, philosophical, and theological views are bleak indeed.

If all this sounds rather grim or dry, worry not; Hardy knew how to tell a story. Unlike many writers dealing with heavy themes, he always took care to have them arise naturally from a story rather than overwhelming it. He is virtually without the heavy-handedness and didacticism nearly always fatal in such works. His characters are a big part of this; plausible and sympathetic, we recognize our humanity in them, truly feeling with and for them. The plot is also so tight and superbly executed that, looking back, it seems to unfold near-inevitably, though anyone who guessed how specific events turned out would have surely been wrong. This of course plays right into Hardy's fatalism, but it is clear from reading the book just how much later writes owe him. Unlike most Victorian authors handling serious themes, he was supremely entertaining; his stories were not only engrossing but truly exciting, bursting with the kind of twists and suspense then so rare. Even pulp fans could hardly ask for more. The Woodlanders is a case in point. The climax with the deadly trap is especially well-done; readers will be on the edge of their proverbial seats until the surprising outcome. More fundamentally, Hardy's writing is profoundly emotional; he was deeply in touch with the uber-sensitive chords buried deep in humanity's very heart, striking them with power and precision. The Woodlanders is highly moving, shot full of pathos as well as other feelings and thoughts through which Hardy moves us with true artistry.

This is a fine novel that is essential for anyone even remotely interested in Hardy - a true classic deserving more popularity and acclaim. We must not let it linger in the woods.

The Beautiful and Spooky Woodlanders!
First of all, Hardy's prose is gorgeous. It's one of the few novels I can think of in which longer, descriptive passages of nature do not bore me to death. In fact, as others have said here, nature is one of the key protagonists of the story.

In this beautiful setting, the moral conflicts of the human heart play out with venom and ugliness. This obvious contrast makes for a heart-pounding and sublime reading experience. This is a masterpiece of English literature not to be missed.

NOT PART OF THE "BIG 5" EH...WELL MAKE IT THE "BIG 6!"
The Woodlanders (1887) is one of Thomas Hardy's finest novels, which deals with doomed love in a gloomy rural "partly real and partly dream" country of Wessex.

It is one of Hardy's favorite and if Hardy liked it, I do to, especially since I have never read this novel....I liked The Return of the Native...

THE BIG 6

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD -1874
THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE -1878
THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE - 1886
THE WOODLANDERS - 1887
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES - 1891
JUDE THE OBSCURE- 1895 ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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Read it in college
I really appreciate this story a great deal more than I did in college english during the last century. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The poetry, rituals, and cycles of life
In Under the Greenwood Tree, Thomas Hardy combines many of the elements that would define his career as a novelist--colorful common folk and their equally colorful language, an ironic narrator, an unflinching perspective on changing times, and the marvelous "Wessex" countryside. All that is missing is a plot, the lack of which contributes to the uncharacteristic happy ending.

Under the Greenwood Tree addresses two related matters: the fate of the Mellstock choir and of the charming new schoolmistress. Although the members of the choir acknowledge that their way is becoming an anachronism, they see that it is not only the inevitability of change that is pushing them aside. Both Farmer Shiner and the vicar show a strong interest in schoolmistress Fancy Day, who happens to have musical ability. By eliminating the choir and installing Miss Day at Farmer Shiner's behest, the vicar believes he will achieve two objectives: modernizing a parish that has no desire to be modernized and impressing a woman who does wish to be wooed.

At the same time, the sight of Fancy at the window with her hair undone in the wee hours of Christmas morning is enough to win the heart of young choir member Dick Dewy, who devotes his energy to attracting Fanny's notice and attention. While he is more educated than his father and the other members of the choir, he seems to represent honest labor, sincerity, and singlemindedness, while his rivals the vicar and the farmer, represent culture and money, respectively. Fancy is educated and cultured, while her father is revealed to have some money. The question is not about her choice but about whether it is the right one--a question that cannot be answered by the end of the novel.

Fancy's response to the vicar shows some ambivalence about her commitment. At times, the parish's long-standing couples reveal their own sense of fate about their spouses and marriages. Mrs. Penny tells the tranter's Christmas gathering, " . . . and lo and behold the coming man came: Penny asked me if I'd go snacks with him and afore I knew what I was about a'most, the thing was done." Later she tells Fancy to reassure herself with the thought, "'tis to be, and here goes!" She adds that "'Twill carry a body through it all from wedding to churching if you only let it out with spirit enough." When Dick's father says to his wife, "You be a well-enough woman, Ann," then, "Mrs. Dewy put her mouth in the form of a smile and put it back again without smiling." An impressive subtext underlies these couples' anecdotes, exchanges, and expressions, with the narrator's--and reader's--knowledge that they were once in the same position as Dick and Fancy.

In his introduction, Simon Gatrell writes that "the heart of the novel is the right way to do things." Eliminating the tradition of the choir to impress a woman may not be the right way, but the members concede the vicar's right to do so. Their attempt, not altogether unsuccessful, to negotiate the timing of the change both affirms his right and preserves their dignity. It also allows the vicar to "win" without forcing the choir to "lose." As Reuben Dewy says, "Everybody must be managed"--including both vicar and choir, and both Dick and Fancy.

Under the Greenwood Tree is organized by seasons ("Part the First--Winter," "Part the Second--Spring," and so on), which reflects the cycle of life that Hardy portrays. Dick is not the first man to fall in love with a pretty face. ("A very good pink face, as far as that do go. Still, only a face, when all is said and done," according to the choir's erudite Mr. Spinks.) Fanny is not the first woman to be tempted by appeals to her vanity and her social and cultural refinement. The elder Dewys, the Pennys, and the other mature couples seem to regard Dick and Fancy with a wryness born of their own distant courting experience and their ensuing lives together. Even Fancy, who wants to be stylish and modern, gives in and honors the old cycle when, after some resistance, she agrees to follow the traditions, saying, "Respectable people don't nowadays. . . . Still, since poor mother did, I will." No one knows what their future will be, but Mrs. Penny observes, "Well, `tis humps and hollers with the best of us, but still and for all that Dick and Fancy stand as fair a chance of having a bit of sunsheen as any married people in the land." Had Hardy written Under the Greenwood Tree in the same spirit as Tess of the D'Urbervilles or Jude the Obscure, perhaps Mrs. Penny's prediction would have proven tragically wrong.

Under the Greenwood Tree was written by a Thomas Hardy who had not reached maturity as a writer, but he reveals the insights and the verbal beauty that would mark his place among the great Victorian writers. Phrases such as, ". . . if Fancy's lips had been real cherries, probably Dick's would have appeared deeply stained," ". . . your mother's charms was more in the manner than the material," and "I've walked the path once in my life and know the country, neighbors; and Dick's a lost man!" remind the reader that Hardy's true love as a writer would be poetry, not prose. Like his other novels, Under the Greenwood Tree reveals the poetry, comic, ironic, or tragic, in everyday life.

A Bit of Fluff
This is very undeveloped Hardy--pleasant, well conceived, but predictable and not much more than an extended character sketch. If you're in the mood for something light and atmospheric, this is a good fit. If you want complexity, drama, the transcendental--all of Life's biggies--choose Tess, Return of the Native, or Far From the Madding Crowd.

Great writing, but cynical undertone
Ok, I'll admit it. I'm not a Hardy fan. Ever since I read his Tess of the D'Urbervilles (a book filled with endless bad fortune for the title character) I said I'd nvever read another. However, my book club did choose this book and I have dutifully read it.

First, the good. There is no doubt but that Hardy is a superb writer. He captures perfectly what life was like in the 1840s (when the actions in this book were supposed to take place) as well as depicting the characters so well that you feel almost as if you'd recognize them on the street. If that is all you're looking for, then read this book. However, if like me you also want to ENJOY the process of reading, I'd recommend against this book.

For the plot, Hardy uses his writing skills to paint a tale of courtship between a young man and woman. He captures well the angst and naivete involved. For a subplot, he writes about the church choir's angst at being replaced by one person who plays the organ.

The above being said, there is such an undercurrent of cynicism in this book. The two characters as he paints them are very shallow in their courtship and it is apparent that soon after their marriage reality will set in. No one in this book is happily married and it almost seems as if that cannot be. No, the picture Hardy paints is that there is a rush of infatuation resulting in marriage. After marriage, the infatuation quickly fades and one just has to make the best of it. Depressing. I much prefer Dickens books that portray good and bad marriages as is closer to the truth in real life.

One last opinion here. Reading about Hardy's life I can't help thinking that he unfortunately could not keep a good relationship with either of his wives (he married again after being widowed) and thus thinks it is the same for all.

"A dance to the music of time"
The painter Poussin's famous title might stand as a rubric for this lovely book. Hardy views his cast of rustics through the prism of music: the old church stringed instruments choir is to be replaced with the spanking new organ. There is the added romantic interest of young musician Dave and the controversially female organist, Fancy Day.

This is a story of established customs breaking down through the interloper: a new vicar in town. Structurally divided into Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, it follows the natural rhythms of the earth and of society. Hardy revels in his descriptive powers.

Filled with nostalgia and that increasingly fashionable concept, "Englishness", and seasoned with wisdom and wit, this is truly fabulous.It's a mini-masterpice in a similar bag to, say, Mrs. Gaskell's "Cranford".

Hardy in embryo
"Under the Greenwood Tree" does not rank among Hardy's greatest novels, but it includes many moving moments and memorable characters.This first of the great series of Wessex novels introduces the reader to Hardy's beloved and changing countryside.The landscape and it's occupants are lovingly invoked, and the natural humour of the locals shines through.

In fact, the supporting characters are far more interesting than the hero and heroine."Under the Greenwood Tree" is really a tale of young love, and although Hardy touchingly illustrates the yearning and naivete of his lovers, both characters remain at arm's length.This is particularly true of Fancy, the heroine, whose emotions do not become apparent until close to the tale's end.

Hardy would explore many of "Greenwood Tree's" themes more effectivly in later books, but this novel is more than just a warm-up act.The decline of English country life- one of Hardy's greatest themes- has never been as tellingly illustrated as in the sub-plot of the Mellstock Quire, and the contented, ironic ending rings as true as any of the fatalistic horrors to come. ... Read more

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Novel tracing Jude Fawley's life from his aspirations of intellectual freedom to his early death. ... Read more

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Tragically unrealistic
I read Jude as a challenge. I couldn't relate to the characters at all.Except maybe Arabella. Jude and Sue were tremendously sad characters. Judewas obviously an intellegent man, but idiotic in his view of Sue. Sue was asorceress, contented only when messing up other people's lives and leavingthem broken-hearted. Though very well-written and to some extent heartfelt,Jude to me was a classic with poor morals and suicidal mortals.

Inspiring and horrifying at once.As relevant as ever.
This novel renewed my fascination with the written word.Hardy's prosehas a uniquely akward elegance, his characters truly live within the text,and the story grips us and keeps us up at night.Horrifying andinvigorating at once, it kept me dreaming of certain possibilities dreamedof one hundred years ago, and still yet to be realized.

A comparison toTess can reveal a great deal about the past fifteen years in Americanculture, considering the fact that Jude has begun to overshadow Tess in theeyes of social critics as Hardy's greatest contribution.After readingthese two novels, I believe they show us how far we've travelled in termsof gender equality:just as far as we had travelled one hundred years ago. Jude's new-found popularity shows our own subtle shift from a culturefailing to recognize the plight of the victimized woman, to oneunderhandedly rejecting the emergence of the outspoken, independent,"modern" woman.More than that, these books remind us of exactlywho suffers in the wake of our obstinance.

In its time, this novel wasone of the few in history to affect real social change.It was the sitedinspiration for the re-organization of the English Public Education system. Unfortunately, not all of the ills of society can be cured with fiction. We're still working on some of them, Tom.Please have patience. ... Read more

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Pupils will meet the literature requirements of the National Curriculum by studying these collections of short stories by pre-twentieth century authors. Readers of all abilities will gain increased comprehension of the stories from the integrated support material on every page. Pupils' interest is maintained by the large format and simple layout. A more complete picture of the authors is provided through completion of a number of 'compare and contrast' exercises, reinforcement activities and overview sections at the end of each story. The National Curriculum requirement to read stories from other cultures and traditions is also covered by books in the series. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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“A masterful portrait” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) from a Whitbread Award–winning biographer

The novels of Thomas Hardy have a permanent place on every booklover’s shelf, yet little is known about the interior life of the man who wrote them. A believer and an unbeliever, a socialist and a snob, an unhappy husband and a desolate widower, Hardy challenged the sexual and religious conventions of his time in his novels and then abandoned fiction to reestablish himself as a great twentieth-century lyric poet. In this acclaimed new biography, Claire Tomalin, one of today’s preeminent literary biographers, investigates this beloved writer and reveals a figure as rich and complex as his tremendous legacy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A Beautiful Biography
Being very familiar with Hardy's novels and short stories, but not so familiar with his poetry, this biography was the perfect one for me because Tomalin leans heavily on Hardy's poetry output to mark significant milestones in his personal life. Her writing is emotional, intense and very readable. It did not bother me in the least that she speculates about people and events that may, or may not have influenced Hardy's writing. She is only definitive when she knows that she can be and her thoughtful analysis of life events that possibly enter into Hardy's novelistic world is extremely thought provoking. She does not flinch in describing Hardy's warts and character flaws and her exploration of his complex relationships with women is both thorough and astonishing. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Hardy's literature.

Excellent but Not Definitive
Thomas Hardy's continuing popularity and ever-rising acclaim ensure that there is a new biography of him every few years. This may seem excessive, as he wrote a two volume autobiography, and nearly everyone agrees the definitive biography (Millgate's) was written decades ago and has itself been recently updated. We can thus only ask, "Is this book worthwhile?"

It depends on who you are. Like most biographies, it has two potential audiences:those who have never read a Hardy biography and those who have read several or all. The former is clearly primary, and the book is excellent for them. It will give them new appreciation of the subject and his works, which is any artistic biography's test. Though outwardly extremely simple, Hardy was inwardly very complex, and Tomalin's significant insight into his personality and some of his stranger actions is probably more valuable than the widely available bare facts. She does not go as deep here as some will want, but it is quite sufficient for most. Her book covers Hardy's whole life and is accurate and very readable; some may want more ornamented prose, but she is clear and never bogs down in scholarly pretentiousness. She does not assume readers are intensely familiar with Hardy's work but, somewhat strangely, does often casually refer to other writers and works as if everyone knows them. One should of course read at least the vast majority of any author's work before coming to a biography, and any reasonably well-read person will have no trouble following the other references, so this should not be a problem. Even more accessible to neophytes is the book's conciseness - 380 pages not counting documentation, which is quite short considering that Hardy lived into his 87th year. Also in their favor is that documentation is confined to the back, letting those wanting only the text read without interruption or clutter. Finally, there is a small picture section and convenient index.

There is much less to attract the other audience. Several other biographies are more comprehensive, but more importantly, this has virtually no new facts. That said, Tomalin's method is somewhat different and, depending on one's degree of devotion, perhaps makes the book worthwhile. Her prime distinction, clear from the first paragraph, is that she emphasizes poems over fiction. Hardy considered himself a poet first and insisted that he wrote fiction for money - and indeed he wrote poetry nearly his whole life but quit fiction in 1895 despite living until 1928. However, he remains known mostly for fiction, and biographers have concentrated on it. This will likely have an ambivalent effect on casuals - some will bemoan fiction being deemphasized; some will appreciate the novelty -, but hard-cores may well be refreshed. Particularly interesting is that Tomalin uses the poems mainly for biographical insight - a risky move. The advantage is that she often sends us back to the works, often with new insight or appreciation, which is the highest praise that an artistic biography can get. That said, she often has no evidence besides subjective readings. Few have made better or more thorough artistic use of their lives than Hardy, but I am against biographical readings on principle without undeniable evidence, and the presentation of her readings as fact sometimes irks me. In her defense, her readings are always very well-argued and indeed convincing, and her non-biographical readings are also admirable. Over and above the poetry focus, the book is in the best way often nearly as much critical as biographical; she interweaves the works into the text in a way that is rarely done, and fans will appreciate it. This is what a literary biography should do in my view. Some may disagree, wishing Tomalin focused more on Hardy.

This brings up a few contentious points. The Prologue makes clear that the book is about Hardy the writer, and it certainly does a good job of that, but some may want more. I for one would have liked more detail about his architectural career. On the other hand, Tomalin should be commended for generally sticking to biographical facts. This is particularly important with Hardy because he was private, had his autobiography put out in a deliberately misleading way, and burned nearly all private papers. Details of his daily life, especially later years, are known almost entirely via irregular visitors and servants, most of whom spoke decades later and some of whom are for various reasons unreliable. This has inevitably meant that biographers have indulged in much speculation - some of it plausible, some of it absurd. Tomalin nearly avoids this altogether, even when it would have been especially interesting or seemingly inevitable, e.g., why Hardy had no children despite wanting them greatly. It must be said, though, that this is not always to the unambiguous good. For example, when neither an overt explanation from Hardy nor an objective outside one presents itself for one of the many paradoxes in his actions, thoughts, or personality, Tomalin is at a clear loss. The contrast between Hardy's deep pessimism and his generally successful life is a glaring instance. Her clear frustration at being unable to explain is near-embarrassing and quite puzzling when it seems obvious that Hardy simply had an ability to see deeply into the human condition without being bound by his own circumstances. Many, probably most, great artists have this; it is indeed arguably necessary to great art. Failure to see this is biographical criticism's main and often near fatal side effect and greatly regrettable. More valuably, Tomalin convincingly dismisses several of the wilder claims made by others.

Documentation and objectivity are important in any biography, and here Tomalin excels. She has 70 pages of notes derived from an impressively large and diverse array of sources. They are mostly very reliable, and Tomalin is unusually candid about acknowledging when they are not, which makes looking at the notes essential even to those normally disinclined. This is unfortunately annoying because the notes average several per page, requiring one to constantly flip to the back, but they are at least marked in the text. There is also an eight-page bibliography of great use to anyone interested in further reading.

Tone is also always integral to biography, and Tomalin's generally strikes the right note for me but is bound to rouse some ambivalence. This is no hagiography, but she clearly has great respect for Hardy and is perhaps too keen to defend. Even his greatest critic would be hard-pressed to find a major fault in his life, but Tomalin's lack of unqualified negativity may pique some readers. Interestingly and quite unusually, she has much the same attitude toward others; for instance, unlike many, she is sympathetic to Hardy's wives despite being well aware of their faults. A prime example is her account of Hardy's first marriage, which was very bitter toward the end. She refuses to blame either Hardy, writing almost as if the marriage fell apart of itself. One can easily call this ridiculous, but it may after all have been true to an extent and is at any rate a very Hardyesque depiction; his novels are full of tragedy, but it is remarkable how little anyone is to blame. He would probably have appreciated the objectivity. In contrast, Tomalin is notably clear-eyed in regard to Hardy's work, unafraid to be detrimental when she thinks it justified. If anything, she goes too far here - to me at least, as several of the works she slights I think are great. This is of course subjective, but we must value her honesty at any rate.

All told, this is probably the best biography for general readers, but those wanting a comprehensive one are probably better off with Millgate, and everyone should read Hardy's autobiography before any outside book.

Excellent result
Excellent price.I ordered one for a friend and had it sent to her as well as myself.We both got our books quickly, in perfect condition.

A portrait of a writer and poet
Thomas Hardy's fame today, almost 70 years after his death, rests on great novels like THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE, TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES and THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE. It is thus surprising to learn from biographer Claire Tomalin that he considered himself mainly a poet who wrote novels only for the money. Taking him at his word, Tomalin devotes major attention throughout her book to how his poetry reflects the twists and turns of his career, the people he knew and loved (or disliked) and the places he visited.

Tomalin has been involved in British literary journalism for many years. A few years ago she wrote an engrossing book about Ellen Ternan, the young actress with whom Charles Dickens carried on a secret affair toward the end of his life. Her study of Hardy also looks at her subject's private life, but she functions also as a literary critic, subjecting Hardy's novels, poetry, short stories and other writings to a good deal of clear-eyed and fair-minded critical appraisal. The book, however, gets off to a slow start. She takes a chapter or two to find the right biographical voice, but once she has found it, she uses it skillfully indeed.

What readers are likely to find new in her book is its detailed attention to Hardy's poetry. He wrote over a thousand poems, many of them closely reflecting his life experience, and Tomalin's text is sprinkled liberally with samples. Read purely as poetry they are mostly excellent, but as here skillfully related to the events that prompted them, they take on even greater interest. On the evidence of this book, Hardy seems woefully underrepresented in most anthologies of British poetry.

Hardy was born in 1840 to a family of humble construction workers in Dorset on the channel coast of England southwest of London. He seemed headed for a humdrum career in architecture until he got the writing bug and produced a controversial novel that no publisher would touch. He was, however, sufficiently encouraged to keep at it, and the publication of DESPERATE REMEDIES in 1871 began his career's upward climb. He never attended a university, married the daughter of a country clergyman and was only gradually accepted by the class-conscious English society of his time. As his fame slowly grew, his marriage soured, and by the time Emma Hardy died in 1912, the couple was living as if separated even though they resided in the same house (Tomalin calls the situation one of "mutual incomprehension"). Emma complained in a letter that "he understands only the women he invents --- the others not at all." Hardy's second marriage, to a young admirer, seems in Tomalin's rendering to have been not much more successful --- Florence Hardy comes across as temperamental, easily offended and generally troublesome.

Hardy also lost his Christian faith, a fact that may be reflected in the bleak emotional landscape of his later novels, whose characters struggle, usually vainly, against malignant natural and cultural forces they cannot control. Yet Hardy characteristically continued to attend church services now and then, explaining lamely that it was good for people "to get clean and come together once a week." The man Hardy, Tomalin says, was "hard to know."

Once Hardy became "seriously rich" and famous, he took to enjoying high life among England's literary and social elite. He always insisted that he be buried in his beloved Dorset rather than in Westminster Abbey, but his friends overruled him after his death and there was a full-dress Westminster burial of his ashes, with A. E. Houseman, Kipling, Shaw and Galsworthy among the pallbearers. His heart, however, was first removed and buried in his hometown of Dorchester. Even in death, Hardy managed to have the best of both of his worlds.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

Tomalin Strikes Again
As a Thomas Hardy fans, I was thrilled when I saw that Claire Tomalin had followed her l997 biography of Jane Austen with this book. I enjoyed Jane Austen: A Life and had positive expectations of the new book; these were more than fulfilled. I find this book even better than the first.
Ms Tomalin writes well and is very thorough, making good use of sources available to her. I don't know if it was that she had more sources available to her this time, but her thoroughness seemed less nitpicky (she is never pedantic)is somewhow than it sometimes appeared in the earlier work. When she gives--parenthetically--the actual number of the first phone the Hardy's acquired, it is a sort of bonus rather than a filler. Hardy may have been a drab little man--as some contemporaries described him--but her description is not drab reading; it is compelling and enlightening, making one's joy in his work even greater than it already was. I am more familiar with his prose than with his poetry, and I particularly appreiated he use of his poems to illustrate aspects of his life and relationships. Ms Tomalin has done a truly lovely job of making me more familiar with my two favorite authors. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more