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First published in 1973 as "Thomas Hardy and British Poetry", this book then represented a challenge to critical orthodoxy. It modified the image of Hardy the nostalgic countryman with that of Hardy the Victorian engineer of language. It also suggested that, far from being a minor poet, Hardy had been a major influence on British poetry in the period since high Modernism. Exploring the wide range of poets who may have learnt from Hardy, Davie associates its influence with a curtailing of ambitions which he states has afflicted modern poetry in Britain. This poetic "loss of nerve" leads Davie to the political malaise of England, its tensions and illusions. This edition contains Davie's study of Hardy, together with his later essays, and also works on modern British poetry and the condition of modern Britain. ... Read more

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Includes "Far from the Madding Crowd", "The Mayor of Casterbridge", "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", "Under the Greenwood" and "The Woodlanders". ... Read more

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Complete Novels of Thomas Hardy (Collins Classics)
The product advertised by several booksellers as "Complete Novels" is actually a single paperback entitled "Selected Novels of Thomas Hardy." It is a blatant example of deceptive advertising, and should not be advertised by Amazon.

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The tale of an opportunistic yet ultimately loyal adventuress who begins life humbly and ends as the wife of a rakish aristocrat, THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA will surprise readers of Thomas Hardy's more familiar, and darker, Wessex novels. Hardy combines elements of domestic melodrama and drawing-room farce with calculated irreverence for literary form. 11 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Minor Hardy but Not Without Merit
Thomas Hardy's first major success was Far from the Madding Crowd, which he followed with The Hand of Ethelberta, now little-known. A desire not to repeat himself or be forced by expectations to become a template writer led to a very different novel - a situation like the one that resulted in Desperate Remedies, his first published novel, after his first written one was rejected. As then, he took up genres - the comedy of manners and high society courtship drama - decidedly unsuited to his unique talents. Ethelberta is thus far from his best - an awkward fit where genre elements are not always well-executed but where his own strengths sometimes come out - but still readable and worthy. It remains notable as an overlooked example of Hardy's diversity - interesting for fans, perhaps attractive to those not usually fond of him.

The actual plot and execution are not as entertaining or realistic as the genre's best novels, but Hardy does include some suspense and interesting twists. However, there are definitely some weak elements. The pursuit of Ethelberta by the various suitors and the ensuing jaunts through tourist hotspots are dragged out so long as to become boring. This is of course a genre convention, but Hardy does not give the scenes enough extra material to keep them fresh, as the genre's best works do. Such things will probably be equally frustrating to fans and non-fans. That said, some of the elements with a more Hardy-esque flavor - e.g., the rush to reach Ethelberta before her wedding - are well-done, raising the book above convention even on this basic level.

Far more interesting is how Hardy uses the genre to explore favorite themes, namely class. His first novel was rejected primarily because editors thought his humble background made him unfit to write of high society, but he daringly returned to it here. He predictably got much the same response, but whatever we think of the verisimilitude, it seems near-certain that what critics really objected to was class criticism, of which this has much and is very effective. Ethelberta is championed as a rare example of Victorian upward mobility, showing that class does not lead to inherent differences in areas that matter. So do many other things in the book, from her in many ways admirable family members to corrupt aristocrats. The scene near the end where she is lambasted by a family member for betraying her class is Hardy's most underrated scene - powerful, moving, and thought-provoking; the book is worth reading for it alone. Those aware of Hardy's background and thought may detect uncharacteristic authorial intrusion, and Hardy himself seemed to think he overreached, toning down some of the harsher criticisms after his own social status became established. The character of Christopher got the brunt, going from a talented but struggling young man angry at an unjust class system to someone who essentially chalks his troubles up to fate. This may reflect more Hardy's own changing thoughts about fate and chance, which were perennial preoccupations and already showed up in other ways, as in the failure to stop Ethelberta's marriage. In any case, whether or not we agree with Hardy's views and regardless of how we view his dramatization, the book is interesting for putting forth a very different perspective on class and related matters than was typical in Victorian literature.

Ethelberta herself is perhaps more interesting. Hardy is famous for his heroines, and she is one of his most underrated - similar to others but fascinating in her own right. His depiction of an intelligent, resourceful, and in many ways advanced woman shows that his views of women and related issues were far ahead of their time. Other characters are also well-drawn and intriguing:her crafty but loathsome husband, whom she is remarkably able to tame; her insecure but charming sister; her intelligent and capable father, who refuses to give up his servant job out of dignity; and Christopher, who in many ways resembles the repressed young intellectual men so common in Hardy. In short, whatever the novel's other faults, characterization remains strong.

Another eternal Hardy strength is also on display - profound sense of place. This is not usually considered one of his Wessex novels - works set in the part-real, part-dream country, based on his own Southwest England, that he made world famous - but shares many of their qualities. Hardy is perhaps unequaled in describing place so vividly that it becomes integral to the story; it is never mere backdrop with him. Place is not as important here as in some other novels, but the rural descriptions are still memorably lush, and Ethelberta is also notable in having probably more London scenes than any of his other work.

The novel is also of note for challenging the conventional image of Hardy as tragic pessimist. Despite some dark scenes and occasional acid satire, it is mostly light-hearted - often comical and sometimes even approaching burlesque. The essentially happy, if somewhat unconventional, ending is the best evidence of this from an author known for devastatingly tragic ones. Though the lighter elements are not always successful, they are pulled off fairly well - perhaps notable above all in showing that Hardy could have been a capable satirist had he stuck with the genre.

All told, those who have read a Hardy novel or two and were averse to his style may want to skip here, but everyone else should read at least half a dozen of his novels first.

The Hand of Ethelberta is an early novel by the hand of Thomas Hardy
The Hand of Ethelberta is one of Thomas Hardy's least well known novels. It concerns the career of a girl named Ethelberta growing up as the daughter of a butler. The Wessex lass manages to become a governess in the home of a wealthy family. She marries the son who soon dies leaving her a young widow. Ethelberta seeks to conceal her working class back ground as she wends her way through the labyrinthal byways of a Victorian love story. She comes from a large family of ten children and situates them in a boarding house she runs in London.
Ethelberta has four lovers seeking to win her beautiful hand:
1. Christopher Julien is a young musician who writes Ethelberta a song after she has won notoriety for a book of poems. Christopher and his devoted sister Faith are the most admirable characters in this novel. He will eventually fall in love with Ethelberta's younger sister Picotee.
2. Lovelady is an artist infatuated with Ethelberta. His character is not well drawn and he is no more than a stock figure in this unrealistic melodrama. One supposes he is supposed to elicit humor in the reader but I found the novel mirthless!
3. Neigh-What was said of Loveday is also true of this aristocrat.
4. Old Lord Monteclere is an old roue who offers Ethelberta the gift ofmoney and social respectability in class conscious nineteenth century British society.
Thomas Hardy is one of my favorite writers but in this novel he strikes out! His sentences are long and clumsily written. Many of the characters would never converse in an English sentence using such flights of overblown prose. Hardy was learning his craft when he penned this potboiler for the periodicals, The novel would have been better if the number of Ethelberta's lovers had been reduced from 4 to a triangle!
The novel presents the reader with improbable situations. Ethelberta remains a mysterious character who loves her family, seeks to win fame and fortune and a lover. We never, however, are allowed to glimpse into her soul. She is always viewed from the outside. I wanted to like this novel but just couldn't do it!
The Penguin edition contains the original illustrations. Theintroduction is somewhat helpful but too long and academic for the general reader. The book is best read by Hardy fanatics and scholars of the great creator of Wessex.

Hardy with a happy ending.
I liked this book very much.Sure, critics have scorned it since it was first published, over a hundred years ago, but it is still a good read.Ethelberta is a complex character; she is a woman supporting her mother and ten siblings by finding profitable work as a poet and a storyteller.She is usually criticized for her coldness (so unladylike) when she considers marrying a rich man in order to solve her family's financial problems, but I see it as courage.Ethelberta dreams of her own success and freedom, but her first thought is the safety and comfort of her family, especially the younger children.She is the brains of the whole operation; they support her plans by following her orders.

In addition, Hardy uses this book to explore class distinctions in Victorian England, one of his recurring themes.Since Ethelberta's father is a butler, her family belongs eternally to the working class, and the only way she can mingle freely with the gentry is by drawing on her late husband's name and pretending to be what she is not.The charade works, but exacts a severe mental toll.She says that she feels like two people and she wakes up in the night terrified that someone will find out the truth and expose her.What kind of society is so stratified that this type of discovery causes such strong fear?

Unlike the better-known Hardy novels, this one has a happy ending for nearly all of the characters.Some critics say that it has a weak, "happily ever after" fairy tale quality.But I think Hardy didn't need Ethelberta to meet the usual tragic fate.The story isn't about her inability to accept the realities of life; Ethelberta accepts her world as she finds it, but she twists the rules of society in order to reach her goals.Therefore, she expects those rules to continue working perfectly, and this leads to the happy ending when she marries the rich man and provides for her family while at the same time gaining legitimate entrance to upper class society.

A novel for die-hard Hardy fans and academics
Ethelberta is not a book I would recommend to most people, and certainlynot to someone who has never read Hardy.The novel is tediously writtenand lacks the depth pervasive in other works set in the country.Only inthe last hundred or so pages did the story become engrossing.Why then didI continue reading? Deriving some measure of enjoyment from this bookrequires that the reader look at it as an example of Hardy's development asan author.The scholarly introduction and notes provide explanations thathelp with this analysis and make the novel more interesting. ... Read more

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Compiled Largely From Contemporary Notes, Letters, Diaries And Biographical Memoranda, As Well As From Oral Information In Conversations Extending Over Many Years. ... Read more

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The darkly passionate short stories of Thomas Hardy are compelling explorations of love, social class, superstition and legend. This collection contains many of his finest and most representative, and includes The Withered Arm', an eerie depiction of arcane witchcraft in nineteenth-century England; Barbara of the House of Grebe', in which a beautiful man's tragic disfigurement by fire is savagely exploited by his rival; The Son's Veto', showing the cruelty of an educated youth towards his ignorant but tender mother; and The Distracted Preacher', the story of one man's conflict between heartfelt love and his own sense of moral and civic duty. By turns moving and poetic, and surprisingly modern and brutally macabre, these eloquent tales may be numbered among the greatest creations of Hardy's genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Distracted Preacher & Other Tales by Thomas Hardy introduces you to a world of irony, romance, comedy and tragedy
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is one of England's greatest novelists and poets. His short stories, however, are not as well known. This volume from Penguin presents several of his little gems. Many of the stories first appeared in magazines or were collected in his "Life's Little Ironies" and "Wessex Tales" volumes. Each of these stories will hold your attention. They are well crafted as the master of irony focuses on his mythical Wessex and the fictional men and women who inhabit its borders.
The stories are:
1. The Distracted Preacher-this story deals with a young Weslyan minister who becomes involved with Lizzie a smuggler. The story is filled with adventure as they seek to avoid revenue agents. Does the mismatched couple wed? Read this tale and learn.
2. A Mere Interlude-Baptista Trewen is a bored young teacher. She is about to be married to a richer, older man but before going home for the ceremony she is courted again by an old flame named Charles Stow. On impulse the two wed but he drowns! Baptista then weds old Mr. Heddegan not telling him that she is a widow. In a weird scene these two honeymoon in the same seaside hotel where Charles Stow's lifeless body is residing
in the next room to the honeymoon suite! Baptista, therefore, sleeps between her dead and her breathing husband!. Baptista confesses the situation to her elderly mate Heddegan. He reveals that he has four children of his own! Baptista ends up as their stepmother and teacher! Irony upon irony in this ingenious little tale!
3. The Withered Arm-A milkmaid named Rhoda Brook is forsaken by her lover and the father of her child whose name is Mr. Lodge.Years later, Lodge brings home his beautiful young bride Gertrude. Intense jealousy leads Rhoda to have a dream of her rival. Gertrude's arm then becomes withered due to the curse placed on it by Rhoda. Gertrude believes the Wessex legend that if she touches the corpse of a recently hanged criminal her malady will be cured. She visits Casterbridge on the day of the execution of a young man. She discovers, to her horror,that both Lodge and his erstwhile lover Rhoda are there as well! The criminal was their love child! Gertrude dies of shock while her husband flees town. Rhoda remains a milkmaid. This is a grisly story!
4.A Tragedy of Two Ambitions tells the story of the Halborough brothers. They become ministers but seek to keep quiet the fact that their old father is a drunk. One night Dad drowns within their hearing but they refuse to help him. Their sister weds a rich landowner. The boys have their lives tortured by their cruel act toward their father.
5. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion-This tragic love story between an English maiden and a German soldier during the Napoleonic wars is evocative of the beautiful countryside of Wessex. The story may even bring a tear to your eyes. Young love and longing for home led to tragic events.
6. Barbara of the House of Grebe-Barbara loves Edward a Byronic looking man. He leaves her for a year on the Grand Tour. He is horribly disfigured in a fire in Italy. He returns to England but Barbara cannot stand to look at him due to his disfigured face. She is wed to Lord Uplandowers having several children with him. This cruel man learns that Barbara has a statue of her lost lover Edward. He has an artist steal the statue and make it look disfigured in exactly the way Edward was when Barbara last saw him. Edward dies after his dismissal by Barbara who leads a sad life with her odious husband.
7. On the Western Circuit tells the story of a London man about town lawyer named Charles Bradford Raye. While lingering in a Wessex town following work at an assizes he is smitten with the beautiful girl Anne. When he leaves town she wants to write him love letters but cannot due to her illiteracy. She has her friend the sophisticated Edith Harnham act as her ghost writer. Edith has herself fallen in love with Charles after seeing him in their village. Edith is in a loveless marriage. The story ends with everyone learning the truth. Edith does not leave her husband. Charles is tied to Anne in a marriage in which his true love is Edith.Another of life's little ironies has been enacted under the indifferent Wessex skies.
8. The Son's Veto deals with a housemaid who marries a clergyman. She forsakes her plebian lover to do so. Later this man named Sam Hobson returns to the newly widowed Sophy pleading to marry her and carry her back to her home far from London. She does not do so in order to please her censorious and priggish son who becomes a clergyman.
9. The Fiddler of the Reels concerns Wat Ollamoor a lady's man adept at playing a fiddle at social events. A young girl named Caroline Aspent becomes smitten with him. She becomes pregnant and gives birth to Ollamoor's daughter. She then weds Ned Hipcoft a former lover. One day the wicked Ollamoor turns up! He kidnaps the girl from the Hipcrofts. He and the girl are never seen again.
10. An Imaginative Woman-Ella Marchmill writes bad poetry. She fallls in love with poet whom she never meets but admires. When he commits suicide she has a lock of his hair preserved for her secret adoration. She dies in childbirth leading her fatuous husband believe that the child looks like poet Robert Trewe.Another sad story.
11. The Grave by the Handpost-An old soldier persuades his son to go into the military during the time of the Napoleonic wars. The boy does so but hates it! As a result, the father grows gloomy and commits suicide. He is buried at the handpost outside a village. The son has since become a great soldier retiring to the town of his youth. When he learns the story of his father's demise and how his corpse was not allowed to be buried on church property he too becomes suicidal and kills himself. A tragic tale of Wessex life.
Many of these stories have gothic elements which shock yet absorb the attention of the reader. The stories are written in an understandable style evocative of the lost world of Wessex rural life. These Hardy tales are excellent reading. Enjoy them!

The Master in Miniature
Hardy's novels continue to be justly popular and his poetry (which he considered his most important work)has worn well with the critics, but the short stories deserve a much wider audience than they have received. This collection, which contains some of his best, provides a fine introduction to the dark vision of the late Victorian master. The title story is uncharacteristically happy, a pastoral piece in which Hardy tells a comic tale about a young woman's unexpected talent for criminal activity.The other stories are much more representative, being concerned with the perils of love, the cruelty of convention and the tragic vulnerability of human aspirations to the whims of fate. Many of the tales are also wrapped in the Gothic and even grotesque trappings that Hardy seemed to favour when the mood was upon him. This collection gives Bram Stoker and Stephen King a run for their money, featuring a corpse with a stake driven through its heart, a new bride spending her wedding night with her new husband by her side and the corpse of her first husband in the next room, parricide, suicide and kidnapping. The mood of the pieces varies from the sunny high jinks of "The Distracted Preacher" to the wrenching tragedy of "A Son's Veto" and the relentless horror of "The Withered Arm." Overall, this group of tales gives the newcomer to Hardy an excellent introduction to his talents as a storyteller, and fans of his novels will enjoy the opportunity to see the master at work on a smaller stage.

Hardy was NOT a great short story writer...
but these stories, culled from his archives, represent the absolute bestof his short work.

Hardy's tales here evoke early 19th century England;not just the Wessex Heath of Return of the Native (a novel whose openingfour pages are among the best in all of literature) but the small townswhere bootleggers operate and ghosts walk the back lanes.

All thesestories have an "oral" quality about them, as if they were toldby a hoary English gent, his face wreathed in smoke from an old Meerschaum. None of these stories will knock you out, but there were some pleasantsurprises, including "An Imaginative Woman" (the best Hardy shortstory I've read so far),and "A Tragedy of Two Ambitions," whichraises intriguing questions on murder and responsibility.Hardy's favoritetale, "The Son's Veto" is also included, but I found this story,along with "Fiddler of the Reels" to be a dud. "Barbara ofthe House of Grebe" is unintentionally funny - an execrable Gothicexercise, where Hardy sounds more formulaic than ever. Thankfully, thetoo-oft anthologized (but lovely) "The Three Strangers" is notincluded.

Hardy wrote a lot of garbage short stories in his career - so,kudos to the editor for weeding through them and presenting us with thebest of his short works.

Read his novels.They are much better.

Wonderful little Hardy vistas!
If you are familiar with Hardy, you probably know him as a brilliant novelist and possibly, a poet (he excelled in both areas).However, he shone in the short story form as well, as this collection vividlydemonstrates.This book includes some of Hardy's best known and mostpoignant stories, including the spectacular 'Grave by the Handpost' and the'Fiddler of the Reels,' which echo with the tragic themes prevalent in hislater novels.Hardy's prose style is incredibly moving and poetic in hisshort stories.He used words to serve a purpose, which is more than I cansay for a number of Victorian writers.These stories are a wonderfulintroduction to Hardy if you have not had any exposure to his 'great'works.And don't give up with them!Although his style is moderatelycumbersome, I'm sure you will find his socially-aware ideas surprisinglymodern and unbelievably brutal in their rawness.Hardy is a classic writerwho no one should miss reading.If you want a brilliant introduction tohis work (but beware, reading these stories will drain you!) I highlyrecommend this collection.You will also enjoy it immensely if you've onlyexperienced Hardy the novelist.A note to teachers:I am a high schoolstudent, and I know that my peers would have appreciated Hardy much more ifhe had been presented to them through these tremendous stories, rather thanthrough his novels.I am a devout Hardy fanatic, but know people withshort attention spans have difficulty appreciating his novels.IntroducingHardy to your students through his stories (I particularily recommend theFiddler of the Reels) might allow you to cover more ground. ... Read more

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Through original essays from a distinguished team of international scholars and Hardy specialists, A Companion to Thomas Hardy provides a unique, one-volume resource, which encompasses all aspects of Hardy's major novels, short stories, and poetry

• Informed by the latest in scholarly, critical, and theoretical debates from some of the world's leading Hardy scholars
  
• Reveals groundbreaking insights through examinations of Hardy’s major novels, short stories, poetry, and drama
  
• Explores Hardy's work in the context of the major intellectual and socio-cultural currents of his time and assesses his legacy for subsequent writers

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One of Hardy's most unusual novels, A Laodicean features a heroine torn between the dilapidated aristocratic romance of the past and the energetic technocracy of the modern world.Paula Power's two suitors--a patrician Army officer, and an architect, representative of the "new nobility of talent and enterprise"--comically illustrate the great social changes that were taking place as Hardy wrote the novel.The World's Classics edition of A Laodicean is unique in its use of the original text of 1881. ... Read more

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The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Hardy contains poems from Moments of Vision, Satires of Circumstance, Veteris Vestigia Flammae, Heredity, Short Stories, Afterwards, and an index of first lines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

What a strange book!
This Everyman edition, edited by Peter Washington, for some reason omits almost all of Hardy's most well-known and admired poems!

NOT in this edition: Channel Firing, The Convergence of the Twain, Nature's Questioning, A Confession to a Friend in Trouble, Her Death and After, Are You Digging on my Grave, The Ruined Maid, Hap, The Impercipient, and A Broken Appointment.All of the Wessex Poems are missing, as well.

I can't see what possible harm would have been done by including these poems!As it is, you're better off with the Dover edition -- this cannot be your only collection of Hardy poems, because the editor left out all the good stuff!

A lovely collection of Hardy poetry
This is an excellent collection, including some of Hardy's most beautiful poetry.Hardy, in our modern period, is more famous for his controversial novels (Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure among them),although in his life, he was most known, and preferred to call himself apoet.In fact, he is buried in the poet's section of Westminster Abbey. His poems sound with the same issues as his novels, although they areperhaps marginally more digestable because they are all moderately short. I would not recommend reading more than a few of these poems at a timebecause they are all permeated by the classic Hardian tragic sense of lifethat we all know and love.If you have not read Hardy's novels, I stronglyrecommend that you do, and also experience his poetry, which is quite outof this world as well. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This timely book treats Hardy's recurring use of one of the major informing myths of Western culture--that of a collision between a solar god and an earth goddess. Stave uses a chronological examination of Hardy's Wessex novels to highlight the author's evolving consciousness of the connections among patriarchy, Christianity, sexism, and classism. From the gentle affirmation of Far From the Madding Crowd to the grim Jude the Obscure, Stave paints a world in which the goddess figures die out, displaced by messianic gods, and a Pagan worldview gives way to a world devoid of spiritual meaning. ... Read more