Wessex Tales

by Thomas Hardy, Neville Jason (Read by)

Overview

Wessex Tales, a collection of short stories that includes “The Three Strangers,” “The Withered Arm,” and “The Distracted Preacher,” deals with a number of timeless themes seen so often in the work of Thomas Hardy: marriage, class, revenge, and disappointed love. Many of the tales have a supernatural tinge, and all are set around Hardy’s beloved homeland.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094017198
Publisher:	Naxos
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English poet, dramatist, and novelist, was born on the Egdon Heath in Dorset. He studied in Dorchester and apprenticed to an architect before leaving for London, where he began to write. Unable to find a public for his poetry, which idealized the rural life, he turned to the novel and met with success as well as controversy. The strong public reaction against some of his darker themes turned him back to writing verse. Today several of his novels are considered masterpieces of tragedy.

Neville Jason is an award–winning narrator, as well as a television and stage actor. He has earned seven AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He is a former member of the Old Vic Company, the English Stage Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Birmingham Repertory Company. While training at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he was awarded the diction prize by Sir John Gielgud.

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

Includes:The Three StrangersA Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and FourThe Melancholy Hussar of the German LegionThe Withered Arm; Fellow-TownsmenInterlopers at the KnapThe Distracted Preacher

Editorial Reviews

Originally published in 1888, Hardy's classic collection of short tales set in early-19th-century Southwest England—examines the lives of everyday folk, many of whom go through otherworldly occurrences. Neville Jason deftly narrates this audio edition. With only minor shifts in tone, Jason lends each character a distinct voice that is easily recognizable to listeners. Additionally, Jason's narration possesses an eloquence that will delight listeners and transport them to another time and place where the magical was indeed possible. While the book's language may seem dated to some listeners, Jason does his best to incorporate a slightly modern approach into his performance, and this brings a sense of immediacy to the stories. An enjoyable listen from start to finish and a must for Hardy fans. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Audio

• "In two minutes only those shops which could boast of no attendant save the master or the mistress remained with open eyes. These were ever somewhat less prompt to exclude customers than the others: for their owners' ears the closing hour had scarcely the cheerfulness that it possessed for the hired servants of the rest."
• "Stockdale, a lonely young fellow, who had for weeks felt a great craving for somebody on whom to throw away superfluous interest, and even tenderness, was not sorry to join her...."

― Thomas Hardy, Wessex Tales

From the Publisher

In Hardy's first collection of short stories he presents the region of Dorset in the 1880s—the lives of its people, as well as their beliefs and superstitions. Narrator Neville Jason beautifully conveys the rich depictions of people and place, including regional and historical speech patterns and characters of varying ages and stations. Romance and family life are often Hardy's focus. Many of the men fall in love with love and propose to many women, or the same one often, only to be repeatedly rebuffed. In one standout story, a married woman falls in love with a poet she's never met, a situation that ends in a double tragedy. In another story, the celebration of a baby's birth is so well rendered that listeners will feel they’re there. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2012 - AudioFile