On Thomas Hardy: Late Essays and Earlier

228 Pages·1998·20.456 MB·English

by  Peter Widdowson (auth.)

ON THOMAS HARDY
Also by Peter Widdowson
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES (editor), New Casebooks Series
THOMAS HARDY: Selected Poetry and Non-Fictional Prose
(editor)
On Thomas Hardy
Late Essays and Earlier
Peter Widdowson
First published in Great Britain 1998 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-333-67998-2 ISBN 978-1-349-26279-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26279-3
First published in the United States of America 1998 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-21078-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Widdowson, Peter.
On Thomas Hardy : late essays and earlier I Peter Widdowson.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21078-6 (cloth)
I. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928-Criticism and interpretation.
I. Title.
PR4754.W465 1998
823'.8--dc21 97-26677
CIP
© Peter Widdowson 1998
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
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written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 9!l
For Neville and Pat Shrimpton
'When We Were Young'
Contents
Acknowledgements vm
Abbreviations
IX
Introduction 1
1 Thomas Hardy: A Partial Portrait (1996) 10
2 Hardy in History: A Case-Study in the Sociology of
Literature (1983) 27
3 Hardy and Social Class: The Hand of Ethelberta (1989) 45
4 Hardy's 'Quite Worthless' Novel: A Laodicean (1997) 93
5 'Moments of Vision': Postmodernizing Tess of the
d'Urbervilles; or, Tess of the d'Urbervilles Faithfully
Presented by Peter Widdowson (1 994) 115
6 Recasting Hardy the Poet (1996) 134
7 Arabella and the Satirical Discourse in Jude the
Obscure (1997) 168
Postscript: The Film of Jude (1997) 188
Notes 196
References 211
Index of Proper Names 216
Vtt
Acknowledgements
The author and publishers wish to thank the following for permis-
sion to use copyright material: Manchester University Press for
Peter Widdowson, 'Hardy in History: A Case Study in the
Sociology of Literature', Literature in History (1983); Northcote
House Publishers Ltd for parts of Peter Widdowson, 'Arabella and
the Satirical Discourse in jude the Obscure', from Thomas Hardy
(Writers and their Work Series, 1976); Everyman's Library for
parts of Peter Widdowson, 'Hardy's "Quite Worthless" Novel:
A Laodicean', Introduction to A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy
(forthcoming).
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if
any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be
pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.
viii
Abbreviations
All page references to Hardy's novels are to the Macmillan 'New
Wessex' editions of 1974-75 (since reprinted, with some variations
in pagination). Details of the volumes used are given below. All
other notes and references are keyed to the References at the end of
the book. The standard collected editions of Hardy's shorter poems
are Gibson (ed.) (1976) and Hynes (ed.) (1982, 1984a, 1985);
however, most of the poems referred to in the present volume are
included in Widdowson (ed.) (1996a).
The following abbreviations are used throughout - usually once
the full title has already been given.
Ds The Dynasts (1902-07), ed. Harold Orel (Macmillan,
'New Wessex' edition, 1978)
DR Desperate Remedies (1871), with intra. by C. ]. P.
Beatty (Macmillan, 1975)
FMC Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), with intra. by
James Gibson (Macmillan, 1974/5)
HE The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), with intra. by Robert
Gittings (Macmillan, 1975)
HS Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs and Trifles (1925)
Jude Jude the Obscure (1896), with intra. by Terry Eagleton
(Macmillan, 1974)
Lao d. A Laodicean (1881), with intra. by Barbara Hardy
(Macmillan, 1975)
The Life Florence Emily Hardy, The Life of Thomas Hardy
1840-1928 (Macmillan, 1962, paperback edition 1975)
(see note in References)
LLE Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses (1922)
ix
X ABBREVIATIONS
MC The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), with intra. by F. B.
Pinion (Macmillan, 1974/5)
MV Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses(1917)
PBE A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), with intra. by Ronald Blythe
(Macmillan, 1975)
PPP Poems of the Past and the Present (1901)
RN The Return of the Native (1878), with intra. by J. C. S.
Tremblett-Wood (Macmillan, 1974/5)
SC Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries with
Miscellaneous Pieces (1914)
Tess Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), with intra. by James
Gibson (Macmillan, 1974/5)
TL Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses (1909)
T-M The Trumpet-Major (1880), with intra. by Ray Evans
(Macmillan, 1974/5)
TT Two on a Tower (1882), with intra. by F. B. Pinion
(Macmillan, 1975)
UGT Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), with intra. by
Geoffrey Grigson (Macmillan, 1974)
Ws The Woodlanders (1887), with intra. by F. B. Pinion
(Macmillan, 1974/5)
W-B The Well-Beloved (1897), with intro. by J. Hillis Miller
(Macmillan, 1975)
WP Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898)
WW Winter Words in Various Moods and Metres (1928)