Authors: Thomas Hardy
ISBN-13: 9780030957673, ISBN-10: 0030957672
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Holt McDougal
Date Published: February 2004
Edition: Reprint
Victorian novelist and poet Thomas Hardy focused much of his work -- including classics like Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) on man's futile struggle against unseen forces. Of his rather unromantic outlook on life, Hardy once said, "Pessimism is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed."
The native of the title is Clym Yeobright, who returns to the area from the bright society of Paris and, as any reader of Hardy knows, all is not smooth. He is quickly taken by and marries the one woman he should not--Eustacia Vye. The suffering that follows is mitigated somewhat by the ending.
A collection of Hardy's poetry and non-fiction prose, containing some 200 of his familiar and less-familiar shorter poems organized by theme, as well as Hardy's own prefaces to volumes of his poems, and his essays on fiction, on the "Dorsetshire laborer," and on an 18th- century execution. Includes explanatory notes, and a brief overview of Hardy's life and work. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Book 1 | The Three Women | |
I. | A Face on Which Time Makes But Little Impression | 1 |
II. | Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble | 4 |
III. | The Custom of the Country | 9 |
IV. | The Halt on the Turnpike Road | 25 |
V. | Perplexity among Honest People | 29 |
VI. | The Figure against the Sky | 39 |
VII. | Queen of Night | 49 |
VIII. | Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody | 54 |
IX. | Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy | 58 |
X. | A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion | 65 |
XI. | The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman | 72 |
Book 2 | The Arrival | |
I. | Tidings of the Comer | 79 |
II. | The People at Blooms-End Make Ready | 83 |
III. | How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream | 86 |
IV. | Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure | 89 |
V. | Through the Moonlight | 97 |
VI. | The Two Stand Face to Face | 102 |
VII. | A Coalition Between Beauty and Oddness | 111 |
VIII. | Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart | 118 |
Book 3 | The Fascination | |
I. | "My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is" | 127 |
II. | The New Course Causes Disappointment | 131 |
III. | The First Act in a Timeworn Drama | 137 |
IV. | An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness | 148 |
V. | Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues | 154 |
VI. | Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete | 159 |
VII. | The Morning and the Evening of a Day | 165 |
VIII. | A New Force Disturbs the Current | 175 |
Book 4 | The Closed Door | |
I. | The Rencounter by the Pool | 183 |
II. | He Is Set upon by Adversities; But He Sings a Song | 188 |
III. | She Goes Out to Battle Against Depression | 196 |
IV. | Rough Coercion Is Employed | 205 |
V. | The Journey Across the Health | 211 |
VI. | A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian | 214 |
VII. | The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends | 222 |
VIII. | Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune and Beholds Evil | 228 |
Book 5 | The Discovery | |
I. | "Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery" | 235 |
II. | A Lurid Light Breaks in Upon a Darkened Understanding | 241 |
III. | Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning | 248 |
IV. | The Ministrations of a Half-Forgotten One | 254 |
V. | An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated | 258 |
VI. | Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter | 263 |
VII. | The Night of the Sixth of November | 268 |
VIII. | Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers | 274 |
IX. | Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together | 282 |
Book 6 | Aftercourses | |
I. | The Inevitable Movement Onward | 291 |
II. | Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road | 298 |
III. | The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin | 300 |
IV. | Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation | 304 |