The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy Collection
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The Return of the Native - Background Information
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I'm pretty excited to read this. I've loved every Hardy novel I've read in the past.
Ryan wrote: "I'm pretty excited to read this. I've loved every Hardy novel I've read in the past."He is certainly a very enjoyable author.
And his poetry is also very worth reading.
I am tempted to reread this book. My favorite Hardy!
Linda wrote: "I am tempted to reread this book. My favorite Hardy!"Oh, go ahead. Yield to temptation!
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Just downloaded it. I love the Free Books app.
The news that Hardy wrote only tragic stories is highly exaggerated. He wrote exactly one cheerful novel, Under the Greenwood Tree.
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:-D
The Hand of Ethelberta has a lot of comedy in it. It's one of my favorites.
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I loved that book
Lori wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "The news that Hardy wrote only tragic stories is highly exaggerated. He wrote exactly one cheerful novel, Under the Greenwood Tree."LOL! But weren't the lives of the people he wrote about often fairly tragic? Especially after the 19th century Enclosure Acts?
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I loved that book"
Me too!
Everyman wrote: "Lori wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "The news that Hardy wrote only tragic stories is highly exaggerated. He wrote exactly one cheerful novel, Under the Greenwood Tree."LOL! But weren't the lives of the..."
There must have been some cheerful English people in the 19th Century, but Hardy usually chose not to see them. I hear there was a rash of suicides after Jude the Obscure was published, and there's a reason why The Hand of Ethelberta has been forgotten ;-)
Anyway, I'll reread ROTN with you. It's a favorite of mine.
Rochelle wrote: "there's a reason why The Hand of Ethelberta has been forgotten ;-) ."You've made me plan to go back and re-read it. It's been many, many, many years. I've forgotten almost everything about it.
Rochelle wrote: "The news that Hardy wrote only tragic stories is highly exaggerated. He wrote exactly one cheerful novel, Under the Greenwood Tree."LOL. He's earned that title honestly. I've read several and his characters rarely catch a break. But perhaps tragedy was his thing and what inspired the Debbie Downer moniker that followed. :-)
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Under the Greenwood Tree is charming and very unlike his other books. The Trumpet-Major is also more of a small-town drama.
Robin wrote: "I might join in this one. I read this in high school and all I remember is something about bonfires as a pagan holdover (Midsummer?)Under the Greenwood Tree is charming and very unlike his other ..."
Samhain, the precursor to Halloween.
I'd like to spend just a little more time on background, because I wasn't here last week. I've read a lot of Hardy, novels and poetry, and I don't have an answer for this: Why do you think most of his books are tragedies?
Rochelle wrote: "Why do you think most of his books are tragedies?."I don't have an answer, but I have some thoughts.
Perhaps because he agreed with Thoreau that "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." He wrote mostly about rural lives in 19th Century England when the rural life was changing dramatically, and often not for the better. To some extent, I think his books reflect the reality of real lives better than Austen or Dickens or Trollope.
He was a great believer in fate -- somewhat in agreement with Gloucester's contention that "As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods;/They kill us for their sport." He had, I've read, the view that most men and women spend their lives struggling against what fate has in store for them, but generally lose the struggle. It's just his way of looking at life, I think. But it makes for great reading!
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Hardy's books can be compared to those of Zola; they are both dark, grim and tragic at times.
Deborah wrote: "I don't have an answer, but would say it's a great way to illustrate the effects of societal norms on individuals. Those effects would feel less powerful in happier books. Me, I enjoy Hardy for his..."I agree about the lyrical writing and strong female characters, and would add that I also greatly enjoy his very accurate presentation of rural southwest England of that era, and also his rich vocabulary. I always run across words in Hardy that I don't know, which I don't with very many authors, and he isn't doing it to "show off," but because he uses precision in language rather than close enough.
He even has a title that was a new word to me -- A Laodicean. I'm sure everybody else here knows what it means. I had to look it up. But once you know it, it can be a very useful word, particularly in the modern day and age.
I only read Tess and Jude and deeply loved those tragedies, so I hope to join the group on this one. I also agree with everything that has been said about his lyricism, his rich and gorgeous writing and his valiant female characters. I was also profoundly moved by his empathy towards animal sufferings. The shot birds passage in Tess is one of the most poignant scene I've read.
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Rosemarie wrote: "One of his early novels, Two on a Tower, has a hint of the Gothic novel-very dramatic and plot-driven."I think Return of the Native also has gothic elements, with Egdon Heath substituting for the gothic novel's castle.
I reread ROTN with a Goodreads Hardy group about a year ago and enjoyed it more now than when I first read it at age 25.
I also had to look up "Laodicean" when I read it. I am not a Laodicean about Hardy - he's probably my favorite author.
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I love this book, but it's not the "light, easy and fun" book we were looking for in the poll.
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Stay with it ladies! We can vote for a light uplifting book next :) this one is worth it!
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Excellent! Would love your thoughts Rosemarie :)
Anyways I have heard this book is as much of a soap opera as anything, and that sounds like juicy summer reading to me!
I have been out of touch with GoodReads for a while due to life and decided to come back last month. Then I had a crushing blow when my Pug Boy got sick and passed on Monday, but I feel I need to read to just get through things...but anyway...I was at the library yesterday and picked this book up at the book sale, and this morning I get an email saying there is a poll to vote for the next book and I see you are reading this book (now), that had I picked up yesterday. Sorry if this a ramble, I am still trying to make sense of things.
Stormie, join us for Return of the Native! We just started :)
Stormie ~ Book Dragon ~ wrote: "Then I had a crushing blow when my Pug Boy got sick and passed on Monday,."Very sorry to hear that. Non pet owners have no idea how traumatic the death of a beloved pet can be.
Kipling, though, knew:
“The Power of the Dog”
THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie—
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long—
So why in—Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
And stormie I echo eman's condolences for your puppy love :(
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Thank you! I will print out the poem and put it in the scrapbook I am making of my pug. I will also be joining in on the reading. I almost didn't get the book, but something drew me to buy it, now I know why I picked it up.
I read Return of the Native one or two years ago and found it absorbing. You are in for a treat. Although it is Hardy, so be prepared for tragedy! Has anyone watched film adaptations of this book? I saw one from the 1990s with Catherine Zeta Jones. It was good, although they did tweak the story somewhat.
Gyoza--do you know you're a Japanese dumpling?I saw the TV broadcast, it was the first time I ever saw Zeta-Jones, and I was impressed. I don't remember the tweaking of the story, but let's save that for our reading.
Rochelle wrote: "Gyoza--do you know you're a Japanese dumpling?I saw the TV broadcast, it was the first time I ever saw Zeta-Jones, and I was impressed I don't remember the tweaking of the story, but let's save t..."
Yes I do! My name was already taken when I signed up for goodreads so I picked Gyoza as a username. It was lunchtime and gyoza are among my favorite foods. I was craving them.
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This is one person's interpretation of the geography of the book, fwiw. I'm not sure I agree, but it's at least one piece of information to try to keep track of where people are going when they go this way and that around the heath. http://thethomashardyassociation.org/...
Makes me think of Dickens going around before huge crowds reading his novels. Reading rather than writing, but the hero worship idea is still there, isn't it?
The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910
Books mentioned in this topic
The Trumpet-Major (other topics)The Return of the Native (other topics)
(Short and sweet, I might add to this later but I am leery of reading about the book in the event of spoilers.)