Thomas Hardy Six Pack – Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, A Pair of Blue Eyes, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and Elegy ... (Illustrated)

by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was born in Dorsetshire, England, the region that he later called Wessex in his novels. He trained as an architect and began to practice in 1867 but soon became disillusioned and sought another medium for expression. The precision and orderliness he mastered from his first profession is present in the terse clinical style of his poetry. Because of the adult nature of his themes, Hardy was a controversial writer in his day. His works were often banned and he had difficulty finding a publisher for many of his now classic novels. Thomas Hardy Six Pack present the big five books Hardy is famous for and one of his poetic works. There are also various image galleries showcasing Hardy portraits, first edition covers and original illustrations. Thomas Hardy Six Pack Far from the Madding Crowd The Return of the Native A Pair of Blue Eyes Tess of the D’Urbervilles Jude the Obscure Elegy for the Titanic (On the Convergence of the Twain)

Genres: Classics

2544 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 28, 2016

About the author

Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal — and literal — cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Ambrish Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, I finished reading a Wordsworth classic “A Pair of Blue Eyes” written by Thomas Hardy way back in 1873. This I found is real English literature. Very often my vocabulary was challenged but I confess it was an enriching experience. The book was his first attempt at romance and fiction in his name after the previous two being anonymous. Although after this title came some of his unparalleled work in the field of prose and poetry.

Based in Wessex and London, the story is mainly about a blue eyed Elfride Swancourt who holds a striking similarity to the writer’s first wife, Emma Gifford. The first suitor of Elfride i.e. Stephen Smith resembles the youth of the writer as an architect. After the success of A Pair of Blue Eyes gave up his career as an architect and took to full time writing after shifting to London from Dorchester.

Young, beautiful, and naive Elfride Swancourt, the daughter of Christopher Swancourt the rector at Endelstow church in Wessex did not take long in being infatuated to Stephen Smith, a smart, young and ambitious architect, who came to visit their family for the repair of the local church. Smith, the son of local mason John Smith, studied hard and rose to become an architect by sheer hard work and calibre. He left the village and went to London to take up the job of an assistant with a leading architect. When Elfride’s father came to know about the humble background of Stephen Smith he disapproved of any further relation between Elfride and Smith The young lovers departed after a silent vow to uphold their love and marry in future, when Stephen Smith matches the standards of Reverend Swancourt.

Henry Knight, a rich and elite, educated and mannered advocate by profession comes to Endelstow for a fortnight on the invitation of Elfride’s step mother to stay with them. On silent nods coming from her father and stepmother Elfride and Knight start to meet and subsequently develop a liking for each other. They hold to each other till Henry comes to know that there was another suitor in his beloved’s life. Harry had been close to Stephan as a friend philosopher and guide when they were in London. Harry leaves for London leaving Elfride lamenting. Out of desperation Elfride marries, the local landlord, Spencer Hugo Luxillian whose little daughters Mary and Kate adored her. After six months of their marriage Elfride dies and her body is brought to Endelstow by the same train in which both her previous suitors are travelling to patch up with her.

A tragic ending. It was a book that tested my patience. Several times I thought of giving it up but something….. I don’t know what? held me to it till the end. Yes, the incidents and characters are still alive in my mind.