This collection covers the range of Thomas Hardy's works and their social and intellectual contexts, providing a comprehensive introduction to Hardy's life and times. Featuring short, lively contributions from forty-four international scholars, the volume explores the processes by which Hardy the man became Hardy the published writer; the changing critical responses to his work; his response to the social and political challenges of his time; his engagement with contemporary intellectual debate; and his legacy in the twentieth century and after. Emphasising the subtle and ongoing interaction between Hardy's life, his creative achievement and the unique historical moment, the collection also examines Hardy's relationship to such issues as class, education, folklore, archaeology and anthropology, evolution, marriage and masculinity, empire and the arts. A valuable contextual reference for scholars of Victorian and modernist literature, the collection will also prove accessible for the general reader of Hardy.
• Provides the fullest coverage in a single volume of the many social and intellectual changes Hardy encountered in his long life • Includes forty-three short, accessible essays covering the range of Hardy's life and work as both a novelist and a poet • Essays provide the sort of contextual knowledge to which a tutor or editor would wish to refer his students or readers
Contents
List of illustrations; Preface; Note on editions; List of abbreviations; Chronology Phillip Mallett; Part I. Life and Works: 1. Life and life David Amigoni; 2. Memoirs and recollections Trish Ferguson; 3. Friendships William Greenslade; 4. The public Hardy Simon Gatrell; 5. Serial into volume Andrew Nash; 6. Illustration Pamela Dalziel; Part II. Critical Fortunes: 7. Critical responses I: the novels to 1970 Sarah Maier; 8. Critical responses II: the novels from 1970 Tim Dolin; 9. Hardy's poets as his critics Peter Robinson; Part III. The Literary Scene: 10. Thomas Hardy and realism Francis O'Gorman; 11. Tragedy and the novel K. K. Newton; 12. Hardy and the short story Sophie Gilmartin; 13. Poet, poetry, poem Francesco Marroni; 14. The Dynasts in epic context Herbert Tucker; Part IV. The Historical and Cultural Context: 15. Hardy and social class Christine Devine; 16. 'The Dorsetshire Labourer' Fred Reid; 17. Education and social class Jane Mattisson; 18. Hardy and the sociological imagination Roger Ebbatson; 19. Folklore and anthropology Andrew Radford; 20. Archaeology Rebecca Welshman; 21. The Victorian philological contexts of Hardy's poetry Dennis Taylor; 22. Physics, geology, astronomy Adelene Buckland; 23. Culture Mary Rimmer; 24. Hardy and hellenism Shannon Fiske; 25. Faith and doubt Norman Vance; 26. Hardy's philosophy Mark Asquith; 27. Positivism: Comte and Mill T. R. Wright; 28. Hardy and the law Melanie Williams; 29. Hardy, Darwin and The Origin of Species Phillip Mallett; 30. Heredity Angelique Richardson; 31. Psychology Jenny Bourne Taylor; 32. Marriage Ann Heilmann; 33. The new woman Carolyn Burdett; 34. Hardy and masculinity Elizabeth Langland; 35. Hardy's London Keith Wilson; 36. Hardy and Englishness Patrick Parrinder; 37. Empire Jane Bownas and Rena Jackson; 38. Hardy, militarism and war Glen Wickens; 39. Hardy and music John Hughes; 40. Thomas Hardy and the visual arts Jane Thomas; Part V. Legacies: 41. Lawrence's Hardy Michael Herbert; 42. Larkin's Hardy John Osborne; 43. Hardy on film Roger Webster; Further reading.
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