英国文学13-Hardy

1. Hardy’s life and and literary career
❖ He was a son of a mason.
❖ At 16, he was apprenticed to a local architect.
❖ During his spare time, he studies widely: language, literature, history, philosophy and art.
❖ After he was tired of all the hostile criticisms against his last two novels, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, he returned to his first love-poetry.
❖ Hardy was the last important novelist and poet of the 19th century.
❖ He was both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer.
❖ Most of Hardy’s novels are set in Wessex.
❖ In his works, man is shown inevitably bound by his own inherent nature and hereditary traits.
❖ The Hand of Ethelberta（1876）etc
Classification of His Works
❖ 3） Novels of Character & Environment
❖ Under the Greenwood Tree （1872）； ❖ Far Form the Madding Crowd （1874）； ❖ The Return of the Native （1878）； ❖ The Mayor of Casterbridge （1886）； ❖ Tess of the D’Urbervilles （1891）； ❖ Jude the Obscure （1895）
❖ The local-colored works are known as “novels of character and environment.”
His Thematic Features
❖ Hardy became more and more convinced that mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile mysterious fate, which brings misfortune to human life. So, there is a strong naturalistic tendency in the novel.
❖ The Return of the Native《还乡》 ❖ Far from the Madding Crowd《远离尘嚣》 ❖ The Mayor of Casterbridge 《卡斯特桥市长》 ❖ Tess of the D’Urbervilles《德伯家的苔丝》 and
Jude the Obscure《无名的裘德》 (the last two being the most famous)
Classification of His Works
❖ Hardy himself divided his novels into three groups： 1） Romances & Fantasies A Pair of Blue Eyes （1873）；
❖ The Trumpet Major （1880）etc. 2） Novels of Ingenuity Desperate Remedies （1871）；
Thomas Hardy
Everybody is so talented nowadays that the only people I care to honour as deserving real distinction are those who remain in obscurity.
---- Thomas Hardy
Characterization of the protagonists
❖ Hardy’s heroes and heroines are all vividly and realistically depicted. They all seem to possess a kind of exquisitely sensuous beauty. They are not only individual cases but also of universal truth. Their plight is not just their own; it applies to any one, any age. And finally, all the works of Hardy are noted for tபைடு நூலகம்e rustic dialect and a poetic flavor which fits well into their perfectly designed architectural structures. They are the product of a conscientious artist.
❖ After his failure in writing poetry, he began to write novels.
His Major Works &Themes
❖ He produce over ten local-colored novels, such as Under the Greenwood Tree《绿林荫下》