I've been reading half an hour each day during my lunch break on my Kindle, and I just finished another Thomas Hardy novel: The Mayor of Casterbridge.
Someone asked me recently if I really liked Thomas Hardy or if he was my favorite author, given my project this summer to walk in Dorset and visit sites related to him and his novels. And I couldn't give a resounding yes. Which felt weird, given that I've read 4 of his books and hope to finish some more before my walk.
So what is it with Thomas Hardy? Why not the love I feel for the Brontë sisters, or Louisa May Alcott, or another 19th century author?
For one, I'm a closet pastoralist, and Hardy is a serious pastoralist: cities are the source of corruption, and purity of spirit and mind can only come by returning to nature or the countryside.
Second, Hardy offers story lines other than the rather traditional courtship story predominate in a lot of other 19th century literature I've read. His books are about deeply flawed people and the ways these flaws bring them down. (I know, really uplifting)
One of the odd commonalities in all of Hardy's books is the theme that marriage leads to some kind of a fall or tragedy. Modern critics cite Hardy's difficult first marriage as the source of this theme in his books. Instead of wonderful stories of lovers ending up together, Hardy's books tell the stories of people who perhaps chose in haste, or let the high of desire get the better of their judgement.
I'm not sure what I think of Hardy's character construction. I found Far from the Madding Crowd to have contradictions in the description of Gabriel Oak's character and his actions or words, and in The Mayor of Casterbridge I found the psychological description of Michael Henchard lacking coherence; at one point he gets in a fight with another character, set to kill the person, and then shortly afterwards he regrets everything and tries to get back in the favor of the person. I found myself imaging the book as a movie, and thinking that people would criticize the film for not having a coherently developed character with motivations the audience can understand and follow.
Henry James sharply criticized Far from the Madding Crowd when it came out, and I couldn't help agreeing with the criticism (the review was included in my annotated version). But I kept thinking about the characters and the story for a while after I put the book down, and I decided that even if I initially found faults in the book, the fact that I was thinking about it so long afterwards had to be a sign that it was a good book.
I can't exactly say I enjoy Hardy, nor that he's become a particular favorite author. But I also know that I'll be reading more of his books.
2 comments:
The only one of his I've read, sadly, is Tess, which I remember I did love, but it's so sad. But it's a story that's stayed with me and I still think about from time to time, and whenever I see pictures of Stonehenge.
I haven't read much Hardy, mostly because I'm reluctant to devote my precious reading time to something which has a reputation for making people miserable. But unfortunately the books which are most worth reading are not necessarily the most uplifting ones. So you've inspired me to add him to my (very long) to-read list!
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