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Thomas Hardy #1
Young Thomas Hardy
This biography of Thomas Hardy cuts through the speculations and half-truths surrouding Hardy, to provide an account of the important first 35 years of this major poet and writer.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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53 people want to read
About the author
Robert Gittings
63 books13 followersRobert William Victor Gittings, CBE, was an English writer, biographer, BBC Radio producer, playwright and minor poet.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 15, 2017
The first of two volumes, this book centers around Hardy's years growing up. We learn of his humble back ground, his family were workers, servants and laborers, and how he spent the rest of his life trying to hide his family and upbringing.
He married into a class higher than his own and even barred his wife her his past. Soon Emma suspected, especially since so much of his writing focuses on the lay people rather than the aristocracy. Her comment on one of his books, "Too many servants."
His biography offers insight as to how class conscious people were back then. It makes one grateful that we don't exist in those suffocating times. Although economic lines are still drawn, no one is forced to stay behind the one they were born in, not in this country.
Gittings explores the real life people behind Hardy's characters. They are all based on family members and the heroines are based on people he was in love with. Hardy had a life long fixation on THE beautiful woman. Even after he was married he was hopelessly falling in love with these women.
He wrote countless poetry about them much to the chagrin of his wife but he insisted that the women were not real. No one bought that. Emma retaliated by writing voluminous amounts of venomous editorials about her husband. After she died, Hardy read them and was deeply affected by their bitterness. He burned her papers after reading them.
Hardy was known as a realist. He did not romanticize love or people and his stories reflect a strong belief in fate. After rejecting the Christianity of his youth, it was all he was left with. Most of his stories do not end well for the protagonist.
Young Thomas Hardy ends with Thomas in middle age. The rest of his life is documented in Gittings second book called the Older Thomas Hardy.
He married into a class higher than his own and even barred his wife her his past. Soon Emma suspected, especially since so much of his writing focuses on the lay people rather than the aristocracy. Her comment on one of his books, "Too many servants."
His biography offers insight as to how class conscious people were back then. It makes one grateful that we don't exist in those suffocating times. Although economic lines are still drawn, no one is forced to stay behind the one they were born in, not in this country.
Gittings explores the real life people behind Hardy's characters. They are all based on family members and the heroines are based on people he was in love with. Hardy had a life long fixation on THE beautiful woman. Even after he was married he was hopelessly falling in love with these women.
He wrote countless poetry about them much to the chagrin of his wife but he insisted that the women were not real. No one bought that. Emma retaliated by writing voluminous amounts of venomous editorials about her husband. After she died, Hardy read them and was deeply affected by their bitterness. He burned her papers after reading them.
Hardy was known as a realist. He did not romanticize love or people and his stories reflect a strong belief in fate. After rejecting the Christianity of his youth, it was all he was left with. Most of his stories do not end well for the protagonist.
Young Thomas Hardy ends with Thomas in middle age. The rest of his life is documented in Gittings second book called the Older Thomas Hardy.
January 31, 2008
One thing that annoys me about the current series of Penguin Classics editions of Hardy's work is that this book, despite being an excellent biography of the man, is ignored. Probably because the editor concerned has a clear bias for other biographers. Hardy is, without any doubt, my favourite author and I have read several biographies of him. This, and its companion The Older Hardy, is by far the best and well balanced of all. Highly recommended.
August 15, 2025
How much I've wanted to read something like this, after so many searches on different online website. Thank you, Goodreads!
I adore Thomas Hardy. He is an eccentric erratic peculiar being.
I adore Thomas Hardy. He is an eccentric erratic peculiar being.
October 7, 2016
Hardy is one of my favourite authors both for his novels and poetry. This biography has helped me to better understand his early novels and poetry. I wish I had read it earlier but will now go back and read his poems with a better insight into their subject matter.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews