The Woodlanders

by Thomas Hardy, Patricia Ingham (Editor), Patricia Ingham (Introduction), Patricia Ingham (Noted by)

Overview

When country-girl Grace Melbury returns home from her middle-class school she feels she has risen above her suitor, the simple woodsman Giles Winterborne. Though marriage had been discussed between her and Giles, Grace finds herself captivated by Dr Edred Fitzpiers, a sophisticated newcomer to the area - a relationship that is encouraged by her socially ambitious father. Hardy's novel of betrayal, disillusionment and moral compromise depicts a secluded community coming to terms with the disastrous impact of outside influences. And in his portrayal of Giles Winterborne, Hardy shows a man who responds deeply to the forces of the natural world, thought they ultimately betray him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141907383
Publisher:	Penguin UK
Publication date:	02/05/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	690 KB
Age Range:	3 Months

About the Author

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a prolific and influential novelist and poet. His works include Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Patricia Ingham is General Editor of all Hardy's fiction on the Penguin Classics list. She is a Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset in 1840 and became an apprentice architect at the age of sixteen. He spent his twenties in London, where he wrote his first poems. In 1867 Hardy returned to his native Dorset, whose rugged landscape was a great source of inspiration for his writing. Between 1871 and 1897 he wrote fourteen novels, including Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. This final work was received savagely; thereafter Hardy turned away from novels and spent the last thirty year of his life focusing on poetry. He died in 1928.

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; General editor's preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Abbreviations; Introduction; The Woodlanders; Editorial emendations; Textual notes; Record of variants – accidentals; End-of-line word division; Appendix A: the title-page verse; Appendix B: Hardy's prefaces; Appendix C: illustrations; Appendix D: description of substantive editions; Appendix E: compositorial stints for Macmillan's Magazine; Appendix F: 'pin-holes' in the manuscript of The Woodlanders; Appendix G: compositorial stints for the 1912 Wessex edition; Explanatory notes; Glossary of dialect terms; Map of Wessex.

Editorial Reviews

The finest English novel.”—Arnold Bennett

From the Publisher