The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy

by Thomas Hardy, Michael Millgate (Editor)

Overview

One of the literary world's great deceptions was perpetrated when Thomas Hardy wrote his Life in secret for publication after his death as an official biography. Since the true circumstances of its composition have been known The Early Life and Later Years of Thomas Hardy, published over the name of Florence Emily Hardy, has frequently been referred to as Hardy's autobiography. But this is not the whole truth: Florence altered much of what Hardy meant to appear in his 'biography'. Through careful examination of pre- publication texts, Michael Millgate has retrieved the text as it stood at the time of Hardy's final revision. For the first time The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy can be read as a true work of autobiography - an addition to the Hardy canon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333461679
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	06/18/1989
Edition description:	1984
Pages:	604
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

An English Victorian author of novels, poems, and short stories, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is best known for the classic books Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. Set mostly in the semi-imagined region of Wessex, Hardy’s fictional works retain their popularity thanks to an accessible style, Romantic plots, and richly drawn characters.

Date of Birth:

June 2, 1840

Date of Death:

January 11, 1928

Place of Birth:

Higher Brockhampon, Dorset, England

Place of Death:

Max Gate, Dorchester, England

Education:

Served as apprentice to architect James Hicks

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Introduction - Editorial Procedures - A Note on the Illustrations - THE LIFE AND WORK OF THOMAS HARDY - Early Life and Architecture - Novels to Illness - Illness, Novels and Italy - Between Town and Country - 'Tess', 'Jude' and the End of Prose - Verse, to the End of 'The Dynasts' - 'Time's Laughingsks' and 'Moments of Vision' - Life's Decline - Conclusion (by Florence Emily Hardy) - Appendices (as included by Florence Emily Hardy) - TEXTUAL APPARATUS - Abbreviations - Editorial Emendations in the Copy Text - Selected Post-Hardyan Revision in Early Life and Later Years - Textual Notes - Biographical Index