Thomas Hardy

Butler, Lance St. John

ISBN 10: 0521292719 / ISBN 13: 9780521292719

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1978

About this Item

VERY GOOD softcover, no marks in text, square uncreased spine.

Seller Inventory # 033107

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Thomas Hardy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
• Publication Date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521292719
• ISBN 13: 9780521292719
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literary Criticism
  • English Literature
  • Alibris

About this title

Synopsis

This study of Thomas Hardy provides a substantial introduction to his six major novels and his poems. It deals more briefly with the minor fiction. Hardy now seems a more important novelist and poet than at any previous time. This is only partly due to his capabilities as a social historian or provincial chronicler. Far more important is his faithful exploration of the daily trials and tragedies of men and women as feeling beings. Man and woman in love, man and woman 'up against it', are the central themes of his fiction and poetry. His ability to universalise his tragic material, in which he is akin to Shakespeare, is seen as his abiding achievement. Detailed analyses are made of some crucial passages in the major novels and a serious attempt is made to counter the proposition that Hardy 'wrote badly'.

From the Back Cover

This study of Thomas Hardy provides a substantial introduction to his six major novels and his poems. It deals more briefly with the minor fiction.

Hardy now seems a more important novelist and poet than at any previous time. This importance is only partly due to his capabilities as a social historian or provincial chronicler. Far more important than these is his faithful exploration of the daily trials and tragedies of men and women as feeling beings. Man and woman in love, man and woman 'up against it', are his theme.

Mr. Butler's study of his work emphasizes this central aspect of Hardy's fiction and poetry. His tendency to universalize his tragic material, in which he is akin to Shakespeare, is seen as his abiding achievement. Detailed analyses are made of some crucial passages in the major novels and a serious attempt is made to counter the proposition that Hardy 'wrote badly'. Some of his quirkier writing is looked at honestly, but the conclusion is that Hardy was a novelist who, above all, know what he was doing and did it well.