Reading Thomas Hardy [Hardcover]

The wide-ranging and lively essays in Reading Thomas Hardy will appeal to anyone interested in Hardy. Specialists and Hardy enthusiasts will find a showcase for the work of many of the world's leading Hardy scholars. Subjects covered include Hardy the writer and Hardy the man, individual texts and wider themes, and Hardy's relationships to other artists. Whether presenting new research, embodying the best of traditional approaches, or challenging the reader with new interpretations, all the papers are authoritative and accessible.Preface; C.P.C.Pettit Notes on the Contributors 'She Matched his Violence with her own Wild Passion': Illustrating Far from the Madding Crowd ; P.Dalziel Less than Faithfully Presented: Fictions in Modern Commentaries on Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles ; R.Schweik Characterization in Hardy's Jude the Obscure : The Function of Arabella; J.R.Doheny Hardy Promises: The Dynasts and the Epic of Imperialism; C.Lock From Fascination to Listlessness: Hardy's Depiction of Love; M.Irwin 'The Worthy Encompassed by the Inevitable': Hardy and a New Perception of Tragedy; R.Chapman Hardy and Time; P.Mallett How to be an Old Poet: The Examples of Hardy and Yeats; S.Hynes Variations on Two Enigmas: Hardy, Elgar and the Muses; J.C.Brown Thomas Hardy, Epistolarian; R.W.V.Elliott Distracted Preacher: Thomas Hardy's Public Utterances; M.Millgate The Wit and Wisdom of Thomas Hardy; H.Orel IndexJOANNA CULLEN BROWN Tutor, Department of Continuing Education, University of BristolRAYMOND CHAPMAN Professor Emeritus of English, University of London, and Lecturer and Academic Adviser, London Centre of the Institute of European StudiesPAMELA DALZIEL Associate Professor of English, University of British ColumbiaJOHN DOHENY Professor Emeritus of English, University of British ColumbiaRALPH ELLIOTT Visiting Professor in English and Honorary Librarian, Humanities Research Centre, The Australian National UniversitySAMUEL HYNES Professor Emeritus of Literature, Princeton UlC”