Background and Reading Schedule

[Tamara]

Our reading of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles begins on October 12.

Tess was originally serialized in The Graphic newspaper in 1891 but only after it had been rejected by three publishers because of its supposed immorality. The serialized version was heavily censored. Hardy strongly objected to the censorship and published it as a novel in 1892. In his Explanatory Note of the novel, Hardy thanks the editors for “enabling me now to piece the trunk and limbs of the novel together, and print it complete as originally written two years ago.”

Tess is set in Hardy’s fictional Wessex. It caused quite a stir at the time of its publication for what some considered to be its explicit immorality and its suggestion of a gendered double standard. It is the tragic story of a young girl who is apparently a victim of circumstances beyond her control.

This is Hardy’s second to last novel, his last being Jude the Obscure. After Jude, Hardy turned his attention exclusively to writing poetry.

Reading Schedule

Week 1: October 12 - 18: Chapters. 1-8
Week 2: October 19 – 25: Chapters 9-15
Week 3: October 26 – November 1: Chapters 16-24
Week 4: November 2 – November 8: Chapters 25-32
Week 5: November 9 – November 15: Chapters 33-37
Week 6: November16 – November 22: Chapters 38-44
Week 7: November 23 – November 29: Chapters 45-52
Week 8: November 30 – December 6: Chapters 53-59; The book as a whole