Life of Thomas Hardy

List of Illustrations. Preface and Acknowledgements. List of Abbreviations. Introduction. 1. a How I Built Myself a Housea . 2. The Poor Man and the Lady. 3. Desperate Remedies. 4. Under the Greenwood Tree. 5. Pair of Blue Eyes. 6. Far From the Madding Crowd. 6. The Hand of Ethelberta. 7. The Return of the Native. 8. The Trumpet--Major. 9. A Laodicean. 10. Two on a Tower. 11. The Mayor of Casterbridge. 12. The Woodlanders. 13. Wessex Tales. 14. A Group of Noble Dames. 15. Tess of the da Urbervilles. 16. Lifea s Little Ironies. 17. Jude the Obscure. 18. The Well--Beloved. 19. Wessex Poems. 20. Poems of the Past and Present. 21. The Dynasts Part First. 22. The Dynasts Part Second. 23. The Dynasts Part Third. 24. Timea s Laughingstocks. 25. A Changed Man and Other Tales. 26. Satires of Circumstance. 27. Moments of Vision. 28. Late Lyrics and Earlier. 29. The Queen of Cornwall. 30. Human Shows. 31. Winter Words. Notes. Bibliography.

Paul D.L. Turner, Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford, read Classics and English at Cambridge University, and was formerly a University Lecturer in English at Oxford University. He contributed Victorian Poetry, Drama, and Miscellaneous Prose 1832--1890 to the Oxford History of English Literature, and his many other publications include translations of Daphnis and Chloe, Luciana s Satirical and Thomas Morea s Utopia.

"... his method has much recommended it. The useful book contains illustrations and notes and is recommended for all academic libraries." Choice "This is a very intriguing and useful work. The result is a book of great interest at various levels, and of value to a range of readers. Students at all levels will find much closely argued material (and meticulously referenced throughout) to help interpretation of the author and his works. Those of us who think we know the man and his work will find new ways of looking at and interpreting the already familiar. This is an intriguing and useful work which opens many new avenues into and through Hardy and his work, both the novels and the poetry. It makes a useful addition to a scholarly series, although this volume at least (I cannot speak for any of the others since I have not read them) has much to offer any interested reader. It is recommended for any literature collection." Languages and Literature "Although it does, indeed, contain a great deal of interesting biographical material this new life has an important new dimension. It explores in considerable detail Hardya s use in his writing of his wide and erudite background of reading. The book is full of instances of Turnera s insight into the influence of Hardya s reading on his writing, {and} adds substantially to our knowledge of Hardya s creative methods." The Thomas Hardy Journal "For a critical biography so largely concerned with Hardya s reading, Paul Turner has proved an excellent choice. He brings to his task an intimate familiarity with the classical texts to which Hardya s imagination recurred. Turner renews onea s sense of Hardya s writing as at once more spirited and artful and gnarled than a reader is ever quite prepared for." The Review of English Studies "Turner has an admirably broad view of Hardy and literary tradition: he is learned and interesting on Hardya s relation to English and classical tradition, particularly Tennyson, Browning, Greek tragedy