Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June, 1840 – 11 January, 1928) was a novelist and poet, generally regarded as among the greatest poets and novelists in English literature. The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-imaginary county of Wessex, is marked by imaginative poetic descriptions, and a foreboding sense of fatalism.

Hardy's Novels

Hardy himself divided his novels into three classes.

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Novels of Character and Environment

• Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)
• Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
• The Return of the Native (1878)
• The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
• The Woodlanders (1887)
• Wessex Tales (1888)
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891)
• Life's Little Ironies (1894)
• Jude the Obscure (1895)

Romances and Fantasies

• A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
• The Trumpet-Major (1880)
• Two on a Tower (1882)
• A Group of Noble Dames (1891)
• The Well-Beloved (1897) (first published as a serial from 1892).

Novels of Ingenuity

• Desperate Remedies (1871)
• The Hand of Ethelberta (1876)
• A Laodicean (1881)

In addition there are a number of minor tales and novels including, the unpublished The Poor Man and the Lady written in 1867 and Alicia's Diary (1887).

Related Topics:
The Poor Man and the Lady - 1867 - Alicia's Diary

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Hardy's novels, stories and many of the poems take place in the "partly-real, partly-dream" county of Wessex (named after the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which existed in the area). The landscape was modelled on the real counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire, with fictional places based on real locations. One of his distinctive achievements is to have captured the cultural atmosphere of rural Wessex in the epoch just before the impact of the railways and the industrial revolution was to change the English countryside for ever.

Related Topics:
Wessex - Berkshire - Devon - Dorset - Hampshire - Somerset - Wiltshire - Industrial revolution

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His works are often deeply pessimistic and full of bitter irony, in sharp contrast to the prevalent Victorian optimism. His writing is sometimes rough and even inelegant but at its best is capable of immense power. Hardy had an eye for the macabre or poignant detail, such as the spreading bloodstain on the ceiling at the end of Tess or little Jude's suicide note; he kept note books and clippings from newspaper reports of real events and frequently used them as details in his novels.

Related Topics:
Irony - Tess - Jude's

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Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) attracted criticism for its sympathetic portrayal of a 'fallen woman' and was initially refused publication. Its subtitle, A Pure Woman, was intended to raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle-classes and did so. His next major novel, Jude the Obscure (1895) caused an uproar. It was heavily criticized for its apparent attack on the institution of marriage. The book caused further strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage due to Emma's concern that it would be read as autobiographical. Some booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags and the Bishop of Wakefield is reputed to have burnt a copy. Disgusted with the public reception of two of his greatest works, Hardy gave up writing novels altogether.

Related Topics:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - 1891 - Victorian - Middle-class - Jude the Obscure - 1895

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