Thomas Hardy ( – )
nnovelist sshort story writer ppoet wwriter of the naturalist movement ccritical realist nnaturalist The Hardy Birthplace Marker
I. Life II. III. Major works IV. Characteristics of his novels
Life Thomas Hardy was born at Higher Bockham- pton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England. His father (Thomas) worked as a stonemason and local builder. The Hardy Family's Cottage
His mother was well-read and educated Thomas until he went to his first school at age 8. For several years he attended a school run by a Mr Last where he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential.
However, a family of Hardy's social position lacked the means for a university education. His formal education ended at 16. He became apprenticed to a local architect.
He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. Hardy never felt at home in London.
He was acutely conscious of class divisions and his social inferiority. Five years later, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset and decided to dedicate himself to writing.
In 1870, an architectural mission to restore a church in Cornwall met and fell in love with Emma Gifford. They married in 1874.
Hardy in 1894
Thomas Hardy's study at Max Gate, reconstructed in the Dorset County Museum
Although he later became estranged from his wife, who died in 1912, her death had a traumatic effect on him.
After her death, Hardy made a trip to Cornwall to revisit places linked with their courtship, and his Poems reflect upon her passing. ←Hardy and his bicycle
became ill in December 1927 dictated his final poem to his wife on his deathbed died in January 1928
His funeral was at Westminster Abbey. His heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma His ashes was in Poets’ Corner.
Stinsford Churchyard
Thomas Hardy's Grave, Stinsford Churchyard
Burial site of Thomas Hardy's heart
Dorchester - Norman Church near Thomas Hardy's Home
II. Main Works 1. 1. the Wessex novels 2. 2. novels of character & environment 3. 3. masterpieces
The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi- imaginary county of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances delineate: [di'linieit] vt. 描绘 1. s 1. the Wessex novels
the bleak and forbidding Dorset landscape its physical harshness ( 自然景观的残酷 ) echoes that of an indifferent, if not malevolent, universe malevolent: [mə'levələnt]a. 有恶意的, 恶毒的 Wessex
2. 2. novels of character & environment Naturalistic attitudes Human beings’ fates are determined by their character environment
In 1901, Hardy expressed the notion that “non-rationality seems...to be the [guiding] principle of the Universe.” In all his fiction, chance is the incarnation of the blind forces controlling human destiny.
From the publication of his first novels, Hardy’s critics accused him of being overly pessimistic about humanity’s place in the scheme of things.
The author’s characters, who are for the most part of the poorer rural classes, are sympathetically and often humorously portrayed. Their lives are ruled not only by nature but also by rigid Victorian social conventions.
3. 3. masterpieces A Pair of Blue Eyes, 《一双蓝眼睛》,1873 Far from the Madding Crowd, 《远离尘嚣》, 1874 The Return of the Native, 《还乡记》,1878 The Mayor of Casterbridge, 《卡斯特桥市长》, 1886
The best 2 late novels: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, 《 ( 德伯家的 ) 苔丝》,1891 Jude the Obscure, 《无名的裘德》, 1895
III. III. Features Nostalgic Washington Irving F. Scott Fitzgerald William Faulkner pessimistic
Naturalist David H. Lawrence Theodore Dreiser George Eliot critical realist writer Charles Dickens W. M. Thackeray IV. IV. Evaluation
Naturalism In literature, an approach that proceeds from an analysis of reality in terms of natural forces, e.g. heredity environment physical drives
Émile Zola ( 爱弥尔 · 左拉 ) the chief literary theorist on naturalism said in his essay Le Roman expérimental (1880) that the novelist should be like the scientist, examining dispassionately ( 不带感情地 ) various phenomena in life drawing indisputable ( 无可争辩的 ) conclusions
Main ideas (1) man is born with tragic, inevitably bound by his own hereditary traits.
(2) man proves powerless before fate however he tries, he seldom escapes his doomed destiny.
(3) The naturalists tended to concern themselves with the harsh, often sordid, aspects of life.
He felt disgust at the public reception of two of his greatest works and gave up writing fiction altogether.
III. Tess of the D’Urbervilles 1. 1. introduction 2. 2. subject matter 3. 3. plot 4. 4. main characters 5. 5. themes
subtitled A Pure Woman （一个纯洁的女人） published in 1891 one of Hardy’s saddest tales of rural troubles introduction
2. 2. the subject matter a milkmaid seduced by one man married and rejected by another eventually murdered the first one considered unfit for publications which young people might read
Early critics attacked Hardy for the novel's subtitle, “A Pure Woman” arguing that Tess could not possibly be considered pure.
They also denounced his frank — for the time depiction of sex criticism of organized religion dark pessimism
Today, it is praised as (1) a courageous call for righting ( 纠正 ) many of the ills Hardy found in Victorian society
3. 3. plot In trying to make use of this connection, Joan – John’s wife – suggests that Tess pursue the son of the local family of Mrs. D’Urberville.
Tess becomes involved with her son Alec who gives her employment but takes advantage of her in unpleasant circumstances seduces her
They have a child who dies early and cannot be baptized because he is illegitimate.
The second stage of the novel concerns the family of the Reverend Mr. Clare and his son Angel.
This leads to murder, escape and superficial impurity on the part of Tess who is finally brought to “Justice”. Angel just wouldn’t forgive her and deserts her that very night.
Helpless and hopeless, Tess has to wander from place to place, doing the hardest work and bearing the harshest insult. When her father’s death transfers the whole burden of the family on her, she is forced to go back to Alec, now a preacher.
Before long, the repentant Angle returns from abroad. Tess, putting all the blames of her unhappiness on Alec, kills him.
She flees with Angle but is caught by the police and hanged repentant: [ri'pentənt] a. 对... 感到悔恨的
This is an exceptionally bleak novel that offers little relapse from the persistent cruelty of fate against Tess.
4. 4. the main characters Tess Durbeyfield Angel Clare Alec Stokes d’Urberville
(1) Tess Durbeyfield the protagonist, eldest daughter in a poor rural working family a fresh, pretty country girl with a good heart and a sensitive soul
Her weakness: her innocence unschooled “in the ways of the world” unable to protect herself
She is a brave girl, hard-working and sweet- natured and innocent she is not free from the influence of social conventions and moral standards of the day.
In a word, she is a victim of economic oppression and social injustice.
(2) Angel Clare the son of a clergyman Tess's husband and true love He considers himself a freethinker. But his notions of morality turn out to be fairly conventional.
(3) Alec Stokes - d'Urberville the son of Mrs. D'Urberville. He rapes (or possibly seduces) Tess when she is no more than 17 years old later stalks her relentlessly
Forced her to agree to become his mistress again. In the end, Tess kills him with a knife to the heart.
5. 5. themes The Injustice of Existence Changing Ideas of Social Class in Victorian England Men Dominating Women Fate and Free Will
God and Religion Sex and marriage Justice and Judgment
大连外国语大学 2004 年《英美文学》 3. Far from the Madding Crowd is written by _______.