Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in the county of Dorset. His
father was a stonemason and his mother educated him until age eight. His family
was too poor to pay for university, so he became an architect's apprentice
until he decided to focus on writing. His stories are generally set in the
Dorset area. In 1874 he married Emma Gifford, and her death in 1912 had a
profound effect on him. In 1914 he married his secretary, Florence Dugdale. His
first few novels were unsuccessful, and even his later works were controversial
and often censored. Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the
Obscure drew strong disapproval for their sexual frankness and social criticism
that Hardy stopped writing fiction, focusing instead on his poetry. He is best
known for Far
from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Jude the
Obscure. He died in 1928, at the age of eighty-seven.
Virginia Woolf
noted some of Thomas Hardy’s enduring power as a writer: “Thus it is no
mere transcript of life at a certain time and place that Hardy has given us. It
is a vision of the world and of man’s lot as they revealed themselves to a
powerful imagination, a profound and poetic genius, a gentle and humane soul.”
Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) was Thomas Hardy's first major literary success. It
originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained
a wide readership.
The novel is the
first to be set in Hardy's fictional county of Wessex in
rural south west England. It deals with the themes of love, honour and
betrayal, against a backdrop of the apparently idyllic, but often cruel,
realities of a farming community in Victorian
England. It describes the farmer Bathsheba Everdene, her life and relationships
- especially with her lonely neighbour William Boldwood, the faithful shepherd
Gabriel Oak, and the dashing soldier Sergeant
Troy.
Here you can find a detailed analysis of this beautiful Victorian novel.
Here you can read a review of Thomas Vinterberg’s film version, starring Carey Mulligan.
Here you can read a review of Thomas Vinterberg’s film version, starring Carey Mulligan.
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