Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
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Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man, by Claire Tomalin
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Sorry for the delay everyone. I'm out of town right now taking care of a family member and getting online is more challenging. I've finished Chapter 4. Here are some additional thoughts.
The chapter starts with 16 year old Thomas Hardy working as an apprentice for an architect. But that's not all he does. He continues to study. His social life appears to revolve around studying as the friends he makes are people he reads and talks with.
Two friends in particular stick out for me William Barnes and Horace Moule. You may have heard these names before as they have been mentioned in some of our other discussions.
When we read Hardy's poem The Last Signal we talked quite a bit about William Barnes, as the poem was written in memory of him. Here is a link to that discussion:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
William Barnes is known as "the other Dorset poet" (Hardy being the first :-) and was known for writing in the local language. I discovered in this chapter is that Barnes provoked the first usage of "Wessex" as a term connected with Dorset. Tomalin writes that Henry Moule (Horace's father) complimented Barnes for his "Words of Wessex" in his poetry.
I think Horace Moule had a bigger influence on young Tom Hardy. Teaching him, talking with him, telling him all about the colleges Hardy wanted to be part of but sadly were out of his reach. It was fascinating to read about Horace's own life, his sturggles with alcohol and significantly his struggles with religion.
These religious struggles of Horace's made me think of Angel Clare in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Particularly this sentence:
"Doubts about his [Horace's] religious faith would make things more difficult with his parents" Horace is not a perfect model for Angel, but the way his religion differs from his father who is a prominent church leader, really strikes me as something that Angel struggles with throughout the novel. And it makes me wonder if Hardy thought about Horace while writing. And of course, Hardy would eventually have many of these same struggles himself
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Bridget, thank you for taking the time to post the information about Hardy at such a busy time for you. I am not rereading the biography, but I am enjoying your commentary.I found your last paragraph interesting, comparing the father-son relationships of the Moules and those of the Clares in "Tess." Michael Millgate's biography (pg 66-67), Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited, also mentions it:
"Although Moule seems never to have abandoned at least a formal allegiance to the Church, his attitude towards a work such as Essays and Reviews would certainly have been more open, more ‘liberal’, than that of his father and his clerical brothers–who were later to serve as models for Angel Clare’s father and brothers in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Moule’s Christian Orator carried an affectionate dedication to his father when it appeared in book form in 1859, but relations between them were sometimes strained. Indeed, the episode in Chapter 18 of Tess in which Angel Clare is rebuked by his horrified father for ordering a theologically offensive book from a local bookseller was based on just such a confrontation between Horace Moule and his father–the two volumes of the condemned work, Gideon Algernon Mantell’s The Wonders of Geology, being passed on from Moule to Hardy in April 1858."
https://lifepage.wlu.ca/horace-moule/
Gideon Algernon Mantell was an obstetrician, geologist, and paleontologist who wrote about dinosaurs and other fossils in The Wonders of Geology, Or, a Familiar Exposition of Geological Phenomena: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures Delivered at Brighton; Volume 1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_...
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I found your last parag..."
Thank you for this, Connie. That's absolutely fascinating information you posted from Millgate's biography. It's nice to know my suspicion about Horace Moule and Angel Clare similarities was right. And thank you for the link to Gideon Algernon Mantell. As I'm reading this Hardy biography, I realize I'm getting lots of information about history during his lifetime as well. You have to know what was going on in the world around him if one is to understand Hardy. Or any author.
Chapter 4 was full of new information for me about Hardy, although just about anything about his pre-writing life is new for me. I had not heard of either Moule or Barnes so I appreciate all the info that Claire, Bridget and Connie have provided. Horace Moule is an interesting figure especially for his influence on the 16 to 22 year-old Hardy, right during the time period where Tom's adult values, attitudes and traits were being formed.
Some other quick comments:
- The story of Hardy's proposal to Dorchester shopgirl Mary Waight proposal seems like just another Old Daughter-in-Law's Tale.
- Six years as an architect's assistant/student seems like a long time; I am looking forward to reading about the London years to see what happens next to young Tom.
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I had not thought of that, but that does seem like a long time. I too thought the Mary Waight proposal story seemed like more of a rumor than actually happened.
I've just finished Chapter 5, and in the notes section (note #19 in my edition) Tomalin says (of a different girl) "Caution is necessary with stories given by descendants [of the girls Hardy was interested in] because well-known men attract claims of this kind."
Which seems to me exactly what was going on with Mary Waight's descendants.
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I felt like Tomalin did a nice job of describing 1860s London. Here we find Hardy taking in readings by Charles Dickens. Hardy may not have known Henry James, but he was there at the same time. Wasn't it interesting to see the advantages Henry James had over Thomas Hardy because of the class he occupied.
I wondered at Hardy's own description of these years that makes him "sound like the most determined and conscientious of cultural tourists". Is that really how he was while living in London? Or is that what he wanted others to think he was like. It almost feels like he's "putting on airs", trying to seem sophisticated. But he also frequented dance halls and spent a lot of time alone, probably writing, maybe playing violin.
Tomalin mentioned two excellent poems he wrote during this time: "The Ruined Maid" and "The Oxen", both of which we have read as a group, and personally, I think they are wonderful.
The five years in London seem to have fueled his imagination. He concludes his time there with a novel "The Poor Man and the Lady", which survives only in pieces not as a complete work. But how interesting that the anger in that novel surface again in "Jude" many years later.
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Bridget wrote: "I've just finished Chapter 5, and in the notes section (note #19 in my edition) Tomalin says (of a different girl) "Caution is necessary with stories given by descendants [of the girls Hardy was interested in] because well-known men attract claims of this kind."Which seems to me exactly what was going on with Mary Waight's descendants.."
Yep. If Ms. Waight had meant that much to Hardy, he would have made some reference to her in some poem or modeling of her in some novel character.
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What an amazing memory you have, Bridget! Yes, what you are thinking of is when (view spoiler) Book 2 chapter 20 I think (I won't say any more for fear of spoilers).
Charles Dickens said of turning into Adelphi Terrace from the Strand:
"There is always, to this day, a sudden pause in that place to the roar of the great thoroughfare. The many sounds become so deadened that the change is like putting cotton in the ear, or having the head thickly muffled."
The Adelphi was one of Charles Dickens's favourite districts when he was working in the blacking factory as a child. He actually briefly lodged at 15 Buckingham St when he was a youngster, both of which he put into David Copperfield.
You might remember that in David Copperfield, David as a boy was fond of wandering around the Adelphi because "it was a mysterious place with those dark arches". Later, (view spoiler)
The Adelphi was an imposing complex of dignified residential streets built by the Adam brothers from 1768 onwards on the South side of the Strand, between the points where Waterloo and the Hungerford bridge crosses the river Thames. The central feature was a great terrace of houses (now demolished) raised on arches fronting the river.
It's also mentioned in The Pickwick Papers and Martin Chuzzlewit (he lodges at a nearby inn).
The Adelphi theatre was famous, and so it's mentioned in various Victorian novels.
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In the meantime I will continue to enjoy your marvellous overview, insights and everyone's thoughts. Thanks to Brian and Connie too! 😊
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"The Adelphi and the Thames riverside, looking east (engraving by Benedetto Pastorini, reproduced in the third (posthumous) volume of the Adam brothers’ Works in Architecture (1822)"
And now we are moving on to Part Two of the Tomlin biography. It starts back in Bockhampton
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Chapter Six "The Clever Lad's Dream"
This is the first chapter where we see Hardy trying to become a writer. He tries for 14 months to get his first novel "The Poor Man and the Lady" published without success. How difficult that must have been for him! It's so hard to be continually rejected. The silver lining in these rejections are the encouraging words from the publishers. They can see Hardy's talent, and they give him advice about what will actually "sell" to the public. I loved how Hardy refers to writing for mass audience as "craft", whereas writing what he wants is "art". That concept carries through the rest of his life.
What did everyone make of the description of his second attempt at a novel "Desperate Remedies"? It sounds a little intriguing to me.
I wasn't sure what to make of all the descriptions of his girl cousins who emigrated to Australia after his Aunt Martha Sparks dies. Why did we need to know so much about these people?
I am getting the impression that Hardy's mother and father were important, grounding influences in his life
"there was a comfort in being at home again with her [his mother] familiar cooking and care, the resumed routine of the walk in and out of Dorchester"
So perhaps knowing about the cousins is filling in the picture of Hardy's family influences.
At any rate, this short chapter ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. What is going to happen at the church in Cornwall?
Chapter 5: The Londoner Some comments on what I considered the most interesting info I learned in Chapter 5.
OTHER AUTHORS
- Dickens - Not knowing anything about any interaction between Dickens and Hardy, it was revealing that Hardy went to watch and hear Dickens read on several occasions. While I don’t know his opinion of Dickens, he must have found him interesting enough to frequently pay to see him "perform."
- Thackeray – I had long read that he and Dickens were the most highly regarded authors of the day. Hardy says that Thackeray is the ‘greatest novelist of the day” which may give some insight into his view of Dickens or may just be Hardy describing the general sentiment of the day.
- Trollope – That Barchester Towers was “considered” Trollope’s best novel may again just be Hardy describing the sentiment of the day. If so, I at least know that Hardy is aware of Trollope and considers him worthy of a mention. As Hardy and Trollope are my two favorite Victorian authors and probable all-time favorites, any mutual awareness by the pair of them is of interest to me.
- Stuart Mill – Knowing that Hardy was a devotee of the highly-regarded philosopher/economist/statesman and, as with Dickens, went to see him in person,gives insight into the development of Hardy’s social philosophy that was reflected in his writing.
WOMEN
- More maybe or maybe not fiancées. While Eliza Nicolls may not have played as vital a role in Hardy’s life as her niece may claim, she likely played a more important part in Hardy’s romantic history than Mary Waight. I think its interesting that there is such a lack of certainty on so much of his love life in this period.
ATTITUDE
- Tomalin indicates that when Hardy left his London years “the anger remained …Humiliation, rejection, condescension, failure and loss of love remained so close to the skin that the scars bled at the slightest occasion. That is why so many of his poems return to the griefs of the past.”
- From what I’ve read about Hardy’s life until age 27 I don’t see how he had it that bad compared to many lives of the time. It makes me realize that his personality is such that he is too ready sees slights and unjust injury.
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From what I’ve read about Hardy’s life until age 27 I don’t see how he had it that bad compared to many lives of the time. It makes me realize that his personality is such that he is too ready sees slights and unjust injury...."
Hi Brian, thanks so much for sharing. I really like what you've said here about Hardy's personality, because I've been thinking that too. With all the support from his family: paying for his education, wanting him to have a better profession than his father, giving him a comfortable home in which to live - Hardy really does have it better than most. It's only when we compare him to someone like Henry James or Horace Moule - who had money and connections allowing them to thrive in London, that we see what Hardy is missing. Or rather, what he feels he is missing.
It seems to me the Horace Moule relationship was complicated for Hardy. Horace taught him and exposed him to new thoughts, but I don't think Horace encouraged him in the way Hardy hoped he would, and there I see the sting of being "slighted" starting to grow.
"As Hardy and Trollope are my two favorite Victorian authors and probable all-time favorites, any mutual awareness by the pair of them is of interest to me".
Yes, I totally relate to this sentiment! Not for Trollope (who is high on my TBR list, but sadly I still haven't gotten there), but for Dickens. My two favorite Victorian authors are Hardy and Dickens. And like you said, probably just my favorite authors Victorian or not.
(**btw my husband read The Way We Live Now last year and just raves about it. I think that will be my first Trollope novel.)
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Chapter 6: The Clever Lad’s DreamThis was a brief chapter and what I took most from here can be best explained by references to two Authors:
1. George Meredith
- How lucky to have the reader for your first novel be the author many esteem as the most prominent. His advice to not publish such a bitter satirical novel at first may have helped prep Hardy to establish himself as an author first, and gradually work up to his two important, and impactful societal-critical works, Tess and Jude later in his career when his skill and judgment could temper youthful over-enthusiasm and create masterpieces.
- Meredith’s presence reminds me of a comment I read some 30 years ago and has stuck with me: that the three most important novelists of the later Victorian period were Geroge Meredith, George Gissing and Thomas Hardy (presumably Eliot was mid-period?) I had only read Hardy at the time but have since read both Georges.
- It also reminds me how much authors’ reputations can vary in posterity as previously discussed in the comparison of Thackeray and Dickens. I see Meredith like Thackeray, esteemed at least as much as Dickens as a literary figure at the time, and Hardy like Dickens, a competing literary figure whose novels have better stood the test of time. For instance, we read all of Dickens’ novels yet only Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. Similarly, only Meredith’s The Egoist with 1700 GR ratings has more than 320 GR ratings while 13 of 14 Hardy novels have more GR ratings than The Egoist.
This is Wikipedia on the esteem that Meredith was held In:
Before his death, Meredith was honoured from many quarters: … at a dinner in his honour in 1895 Thomas Hardy and George Gissing paid tribute to his achievements and his influence on them. Max Beerbohm's caricature for Vanity Fair, published in 1896 and captioned "Our First Novelist", was an indication of Meredith's standing at that time; Beerbohm thought him, Shakespeare apart, the greatest English literary figure.
- Meredith having to earn income as a reader at Chapman and Hall publishers reminds me of how in the 30s and 40s novelists such as Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Huxley and Chandler supplemented heir novelist income by adapting other author’s novels as screenplays. I especially think about Faulkner adapting Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not and Chandler adapting James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity
2. Thomas Wolfe
Not the author himself, but the title and subject of his novel You Can't Go Home Again Hardy appears to be experiencing some of the discomforting feelings of coming back home. At 26 it’s tough to share space with the younger siblings, especially school-aged ones. It’s especially difficult to return home after spending 6+ years in the big city and returning home, older but not yet successful. However, I don’t see that Hardy was as much of a failure as he considers himself. He was spinning his wheels more than failing. Once again, Hardy reveals himself as overly sensitive to slights, especially the self-administered ones.
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I'm so glad you wrote about this, Brian. I am sad to report that I am not familiar with George Meredith, or George Gissing, and so when I ran across Meredith's name in Chapter 6 it did not make an impact on me. You've just given me two more authors that I am quite excited to explore. And now that I know the connection, I realize more fully how lucky it was for Hardy that he had such an auspicious reader so early on.
I agree with you that Hardy suffers perceived slights in an extreme. He doesn't also seem to realize how lucky he has been. Or maybe that's not fair. Maybe he does see the luck. He just wishes he was born into a higher class. I think we will see some of this in the next chapter.
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This was a romantic chapter, from the very beginning to the end where Hardy considers himself engage to Emma Gifford. Even the title of this chapter has a romantic quality. "Lyonnesse" is an old name for Cornwall, here is the wiki description:
"Lyonesse is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean. It was considered lost after being swallowed by the ocean in a single night. Lyonesse is mentioned in Arthurian legend, specifically in the tragic love-and-loss story of Tristan and Isolde."
I could see much of the romantic side of Hardy coming out in this chapter. Emma on her horse, Hardy walking beside her along the windswept Atlantic coast. I can see how two young people, with vivid imaginations and a love of poetry could be overcome with romantic feelings. Hardy - who had lived in London - must have seemed so worldly to Emma, who lived in a very small town. But since Hardy was also raised in a small village, St. Juliot might have felt familiar to him.
What was most interesting though, is that Emma and Hardy meet as equals. Emma is most certainly a Lady, and when Hardy arrives she sees him as an architect - a professional, educated man. He's no longer "The Poor Man and the Lady". I think this is a huge deal for his overly sensitive, slighted feelings.
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Beeny Cliff
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Ruins of Tintagel Castle - Tomalin doesn't say that Emma and Hardy went here, but my goodness its beautiful and very closeby
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https://www.britainexpress.com/counti...
Emma and Hardy may have been caught up in romance. However, Emma's father did not consider Hardy to be her equal, or a suitable husband for his daughter. Hardy was the son of a country builder, someone below the Gifford's social standing. Mr Gifford, a solicitor, humiliated Hardy when he asked for her hand, and Hardy never spoke to her parents again. Hardy was an educated professional man, but he was considered to be in a lower social class than the Giffords.I love the photos you posted, Bridget. It's such a beautiful location, and I can imagine Emma riding her horse along the cliffs.
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Someone may like to look this up in our list of poems, but I'm fairly sure Greg led a couple of poems from this courting time ... one might be called "Beeny Cliff", but I can't remember the title of the other.
Bionic Jean wrote: "The whole coastline round there is beautiful and lovely to walk, especially in the middle of summer 🥰 Some ramblers make a point of doing a bit every day. It's a bit too dangerous in wintry windy w..."Greg led the poems "At Castle Boterel" and "The Voice," and I led "Beeny Cliff," Jean. They are all lovely poems, and give a vivid picture of how happy they were when they were courting.
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Thank you also for looking up the poems we read about the courtship. It’s fun to read this biography and then think back on the poems we’ve read. I’m so glad Jean has curated a list of the poems we’ve covered as it makes it so easy to look them up.
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Bridget wrote: "Connie, I just got to the part of Chapter 8 where Emma's father, Mr. Gifford, refuses to give his blessing to their engagement. What an awful thing that must have been for both Hardy and Emma. I'm ..."Mr Gifford was an alcoholic so it must have been difficult for Emma growing up in that type of environment.
Chapter 7: LyonnesseJust finished the chapter. I've been reading the book once a week on the weekend and it works well, except when I'm busy on the weekend and don't seem to catch up in the week. So I apologize for being behind. I'll try to get to Chapter 8 soon. My comments:
- CLASS DIFFERENCES
Emma is from the upper class and Hardy is overly sensitive so I think he would be a bit hesitant to approach her as a suitor. I wondered if the existence of these factors emboldened Tom to feel more adequate to pursue her.
a) that Emma’s father’s struggles have dragged them all down a notch on the social scale, and
b) that Emma is a bit lame, tainting her status as a ‘catch’
- OVER-SENSITIVITY
But his oversensitivity did still exist enough to make him reluctant for a return rejection and so deterred him from submitting his novel Desperate Measures to Chapman and Hall even though it seemed to be in conformance with the advice of George Meredith.
- EMMA’S FATHER
I liked the comparison to an Austen dad as, like many of them, Emma’s dad is exceedingly self-centered and sees his family as existing to serve him rather than vice versa. It doesn’t surprise me that he will end up opposing the Tom and Emma wedding. More than class, I would anticipate that he would prefer a son-in-law able to better finance his pursuits.
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That's right, Tomalin talks about that in Chapter 7. How when Emma's grandmother passed away, they realized she had been spending her capital to support Emma's family because Mr. Gifford "leisure was enlivened by spectacular drinking bouts". Plus Emma was lame, that couldn't have been easy either. By the time Hardy meets her, I think she's 26 and living with her sister. That's sort of old for an unmarried woman at that time.
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Just finished the chapter. I've been reading the book once a week on the weekend and it works well, except when I'm busy on the weekend and don't seem to catch up in the week. ..."
No worries about getting behind, Brian. I too have been struggling to keep up with my one chapter a week goal. Sometimes life just gets in the way. I'm so happy you are reading along, and I love reading your comments!
I like your thought about Mr. Gifford wanting a son-in-law who could help support him. Tomalin doesn't say that, but it's an easy conjecture to make given how Mr. Gifford leeched off his mother for so long. He seems both quite a snob and lazy. Of course, alcoholism is a disease, so perhaps there is depression in there as well.
The relationship between Emma and Tom is very interesting. Even though they are from different classes, they seem intellectually well matched. And there is definitely romance too. I searched for the drawings they made of each other that first summer, but alas I couldn't find them (though they are included in my edition of the novel. I just can't find a way to post them here). I can easily see Tom being thrilled to be introduced as an architect - and not the son of a builder. That is new for Tom. But of course, we know their love affair has an unhappy ending, and I'm sure we will see how very soon.
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Many positive events for Hardy are covered in this chapter which covers the years 1871- 1873; but – as with most of Hardy’s life up to this point – there is always this underlying current of Hardy reaching beyond his class and being not quite good enough.
The biggest blow to Hardy’s sense of self comes in this chapter when Hardy is not good enough for the Gifford Family. Sadly, there is no record from other people who were in the room when Hardy met his soon to be father-in-law, but what we do know is that Mr. Gifford soundly rejected the son of a builder as a match for his daughter, and never wavered from that opinion leading to Thomas Hardy never speaking again to his father-in-law. I found this incredibly sad. This seems an antiquated value for Mr. Gifford to hold, but then I am reminded of several friends who married outside their religion and suffered the same fate as Hardy for that choice. Complete separation from one’s family.
This habit Hardy has of feeling slighted by people looking down at him, is starting to make sense to me. I think I might feel exactly the same way.
The positive aspects of this chapter cover Hardy’s rise as an author of novels. The chapter starts in December 1870 with the Tinsley Brothers publishing Desperate Remedies. This is quickly followed up by Tinsley Brothers buying the copyright to Under the Greenwood Tree for 30 pounds!! Hardy never made additional money from that novel, though I’m sure William Tinsley did. I found it very interesting that Emma Gifford heavily influenced Under the Greenwood Tree. In later years Hardy claimed she only copied it for him; but the changes of the novel from “The Mellstock Quire” to Under the Greenwood Tree suggest Emma had a great amount of influence on the plot and substance of the novel. Tomalin refers to it at “their novel”. It is after all Hardy’s breakthrough work. It’s after this book that Leslie Stephens of Cornhill Magazine seeks Hardy out as a new author to publish, and of course Far From the Madding Crowd is published by Leslie Stephens.
Of course, before Far From the Madding Crowd was published Hardy was still under contract to write A Pair of Blue Eyes for Tinsley. If you haven’t read A Pair of Blue Eyes, you need not fear any spoilers in this chapter. There are some brief descriptions of the plot and characters, but no detail struck me as something I wouldn’t want to hear before reading the book. In fact, I loved the anecdote about Mrs. Jane Day in Under the Greenwood Tree and how similar she is to characters created by Charles Dickens. Under the Greenwood Tree Under the Greenwood Tree was written just after Dickens death, and Tomalin speculates Mrs. Day is a sort of homage to Dickens by Hardy. For those of us who love both those authors, this is a lovely bit of conjecture by Tomalin.
Chapter 8: The True Vocation - CommentChapter 8: The True Vocation
Sorry about focusing more on my reading and registering my thoughts rather than doing much give and take discussing but that’s how its working out. I’ll try to do better:
THREE NOVELS
Just as Hardy writes stories with 3 suitors, as this chapter’s centerpiece novel and Tom’s upcoming novel show, this chapter is a story of Tom’s publication of his first 3 novels:
1. DESPERATE REMEDIES – Published. Finally. I was struck that the reviews seemed fairly accurate, criticizing as weak the areas of the novel Tom intended to be formulaic, but praising his artistic descriptions.
2. UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE
- Most interesting point is discrepancy over Emma’s influence on changing novel focus from the Mellstock Quire to the loves of Fancy Day. While Tom minimizes it to mere copying, Tomalin indicates that events support Emma’s having more substantive influence on this one. Another example of Tom’s insecurity possibly affecting his view.
- Reviews further Tom’ status as a great descriptive writer, bringing the reader a taste of Dorset
- Tom still gets poor pay and rights as he sticks with Tinsley. Insecurity.
3. A PAIR OF BLUE EYES
- Tom’s entry into serialization – interesting that it pays better, although he’s still with Tinsley so likely not maximizing either income or distribution. Good reviews continue although Charles Moule’s, “keep your day job” advice was disappointing especially considering other more favorable indications of Tom’s talents
WIVES
Brief comment on Emma and Florence
1. EMMA – is only 20 while Tom is 32. While older, Tom seems emotionally insecure so it evens the ages out. She seems patient and helpful and a positive in this chapter.
2. FLORENCE – her reporting that the Holder’s pressured Hardy into marriage with Emma which Tomalin says does not fit with Hardy’s account of the sequence of events makes me look forward to her character’s appearance in the story. Meow.
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LOL, meow indeed!! I'm also looking forward to meeting Florence. So far I'm getting the picture of Thomas Hardy being a flirt, or some might say a romantic. Some others might call him a "rake" or a "cad" with his habit of falling as quickly out of love as he does falling into love.
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I hope to have power by Saturday, but by then I will be out of town so I won’t be able to post until November 26th. I’m so very sorry for this delay. Please do not wait for me and do post anything you want!
I'll just wait for you. No need to rush. I'm enjoying our languidly luxurious stroll through the life of Thomas Hardy.
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Me too, Brian. Thank you so much for waiting for me :-) I'm back at home now and have full electricity - so I'm ready to go. Without further ado, here's the posting for Chapter 9 "Easy to Die"
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First of all, for those who have not read Far From the Madding Crowd, you may want to skip this chapter to avoid spoilers.
I very much liked the way Tomalin describes Bathsheba's best qualities: "strength, high spirits, passion and the power to recover from setbacks". Tomalin says Hardy is showing Emma what he liked best in women and my thought was that Tom is also describing his mother to his readers. I wonder if that's why he was attracted to Emma in the first place. Perhaps she reminded him of the best qualities of his mother.
After describing the writing of FFMC, the story shifts abruptly to the death of Horace Moule in September 1873. This abruptness in the biography mirrors what must have been very shocking news for Hardy. Tomalin describes Hardy sitting near the River Frome, looking up at Fordington church where Moule was to be buried - and it felt like a scene out of one of Hardy's novels. The death of (view spoiler). As I read more of this biography, it seems to me that Hardy pours his own life into all his writings.
But all is not bleak in this chapter, because this is the moment that Hardy starts making money as an author. He didn't make any money from Under the Greenwood Tree but Far From the Madding Crowd was lucrative and that is due to Sir Leslie Stephen. Sir Stephen is a very interesting person in his own right. Here is a link to a brief description of him.
https://victorian-era.org/sir-leslie-...
and here he is with his famous daughter
Sir Leslie Stephen and his daughter Virginia Woolf
Hardy and Sir Stephen develop a friendship, though the men are from very different classes - a difference which Hardy runs into again and again.
Through Sir Steph Hardy meets two women - Anny Thackery (the daughter of the famous author) and Helen Paterson the artist for FFMC. Hardy seems to have tender feelings for both these women, while still remaining engaged to Emma. He reminded me quite a bit of Troy from FFMC - engaged to one girl and leading another on. The Emma and Tom relationship is all very mysterious, and we will probably never know how they ended up at the altar together in September 1874. We do know for sure they had a very simple wedding just like (view spoiler)in Far From the Madding Crowd
Chapter 9: Easy to Die Some comments:
1. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (FFTMC) - Unlike the last chapter this chapter dealt with the circumstances surrounding the publishing and development and publication of only one novel, FFTMC.
a. Tomalin seems more critical than I would have thought about FFTMC, mainly for being more romantic than realistic in its depiction of the rural life. She cites Hardy contemporary Joseph Arch saying that the novel “painted much too pleasant a picture of farming conditions in Dorset in the 1870s.” She brings up commentary on the poor conditions that such farm workers faced in the real world at the time. However, Tomalin does say that it doesn’t matter that Hardy chose to portray a Dorset rural life that is not representative of the real life in contemporary Dorset.
b. I thought Tomalin was too judgmental in her analysis. I’ve read FFTMC twice and I don’t think Hardy’s portrait is more favorable and romantic than other such portraits in the Victorian literature of the time. While it may not be Zolaish in its degree of gritty realism, I didn’t think it hid the hardships involved in rural life of the times. Besides, Hardy successfully painted the rural life he intended to, a life that, as Hardy described, was “partly real, partly dream-like.” Not all great literary portraits of the way of life must be oppressively grim.
2. THREE LITERARY FIGURES - I enjoyed the Chapter’s references to three literary figures involved in Hardy’s life:
a. J.M. Barrie - No, he was not in a relationship with Hardy, but I enjoyed Tomalin’s reference to his comment on Hardy’s descriptive abilities made fifteen years after the book’s publication. He made this comment about Hardy’s ability to portray Troy’s flirting ability:
“Never until Troy was shown at work had we learned from fiction how such a being may mesmerize a bewitching and clever woman into is arms. Many writers say their Troys do it but Mr. Hardy shows it being done.”
b. Horace Moule - The death of one of Hardy’s literary mentors was haunting and tragic, just the things Hardy can tuck away and use later.
c. Leslie Stephen - Until I saw Bridget’s post, I didn’t realize that Stephen was Virginia Woolf’s father. How fascinating. The text does not indicate how successful an editor he was but seems to indicate some limitations as a business man. What is described, though indicates a man that is attentive to Hardy.
3. TITLE - The chapter title is one that could be used for the next James Bond movie
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Some comments:
3. TITLE - The chapter title is one that could be used for the next James Bond movie."
Ha!!! Good one Brian!
I agree with your thoughts that Tomalin was too harsh a critic of FFMC. I've not read it twice, but I did recently read it and so its fresh in my memory. I can think of lots of hardships Hardy portrayed the lightning storm comes to mind, as well as (view spoiler). There's nothing wrong with writing about the conviviality of the malt house, or the friendships among the workers. As you said not everything has to be gloom and doom to be authentic.
Bridget wrote: "I agree with your thoughts that Tomalin was too harsh a critic of FFMC. ... I can think of lots of hardships Hardy portrayed the lightning storm comes to mind, as well as (view spoiler)..."I first read FFTMC in about 1981 and then for a 2nd time in this group in about 2014, getting prepared to see then-upcoming 2015 film version starring Carey Mulligan.
Tomalin is not totally inaccurate in her assertion as FFTMC does paint a more positive picture of life and have a rosier resolution than the other 4 novels of Hardy's Big Five: Tess, Jude, Mayor and Native. She just overshoots and goes overboard in her analysis and makes it too much of a criticism rather than an observation. Many readers might assess that the other 4 Hardy novels were overly tragic and negative in their portrayal and that FFTMC was actually the most neutral observation of life at the time.
And despite having a generally having a more positive outlook, FFTMC contains more major tragic or hardship events than these novels. This is especially noticeable in the Carey Mulligan movie version.
To squeeze the plot of the novel into its 1 hour and 59 minute run time, the 2015 movie had to cut out many conversations and scenes from the book. However, it wanted to keep in all the drama that comes from the major tragic events, so kept them all in. That resulted in the tragic events taking too much of the total plot time of the movie to feel natural or organic. Watching the movie I remember feeling that it consisted of a brief period of calm, then a tragedy, then a brief lull time before the next tragedy, then the calm before the storm again, and then the next tragedy. Watching that version convinced me that when keeping in all the tragic events, the best approach to FFTMC was to film it in a miniseries rather than a sub-2 hour movie.
I suspect that the member who mentioned that the 4 part 1998 ITV version with Paloma Baeza* was the best version is correct. Its 3 hour and 28 minute run would allow for more time to spend on the characterization and a storyline that would consist of more than major tragic events and short interlude periods getting ready for the next tragic event.
The 1967 movie with Julie Christie was longer than the 2015 film version, coming in at 2 hours and 50 minutes and probably warrants a rewatching someday so I can compare it to the 2015 movie version and, if I ever get to see it, the 1998 miniseries.
*I enjoyed Paloma Baeza very much in another miniseries based on a novel from my other favorite Victorian novelist, the 2001 miniseries of Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now. Ms. Baeza played Hetta Cadbury.
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That's all very interesting. I have yet to watch any of the FFMC movies. Maybe this winter, while the weather makes being indoors so much more appealing, I shall start a marathon and watch them all. The Way We Live Now is very high on my TBR list. My husband read it and loves it! I watched the miniseries with him and thought it was really good. I hadn't connected that Paloma Baeza was Hetta Cadbury! Maybe I'll watch that again after I finally read the book :-)
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This chapter begins with the September 17, 1874, marriage of Emma and Tom. It was a very simple wedding. Emma’s brother, Walter Gifford, was there to witness. The other witness being the rather less important daughter of Tom’s landlady. A curious fact which makes me wonder if the marriage was rushed, or if Tom was less enthusiastic.
Maybe, like his mother, he didn’t hold the institution of marriage in high regard. Coming right after the debut of Far From the Madding Crowd, I couldn’t help drawing a parallel to the very small wedding in that novel (view spoiler). I never realized how many autobiographical moments are contained in Far From the Madding Crowd.
At any rate, Tomalin’s analysis of this wedding produced one of my favorite quotes so far:
”Wedding demand buoyant spirits. Hardy was an anxious man and easily cast down”
It’s a short sentence but says so much about Hardy’s personality. I wonder too, if Emma has a similar personality. She writes in her diary about people staring at her in Paris, even children. Is that anxiety I detect in Emma? Was it her limp people stared at? Did it make Emma self-conscious and feel “cast down”? I wonder if these similarities are part of their original attraction to each other.
Whatever the case, we don’t get the feeling that the marriage is a happy one. Even at this early moment when things are going very well for them financially. Far From the Madding Crowd is selling well, and Tom had gained respect as a writer. Tom’s friendship with Leslie Stephens is strong, but as a couple the Hardys are never invited to socialize with the Stephens. It must have been lonely.
The rest of the chapter describes the next novel Hardy started, which is The Hand of Ethelberta.
"She Stopped Like A Clock", George Du Maurier, first Illustration for The Cornhill Magazine 32 (1875)
It was not a success, but the descriptions of it by Tomalin make it seem like Tom was using it to work through the class issues that would plague his life. Marrying Emma must have made the class issues worse, as they were from different classes and thus never really fit in with their extended families. As Tomalin says, marrying across class was an isolating thing to do.
Chapter 10: A Short Visit to the ContinentSome comments:
1. BRIDGET’S COMMENT - Bridget identified the Chapter as being about two things. The first part centered on the Tom and Emma wedding, honeymoon and early marriage and the second about the writing, publishing and reaction to The Hand of Ethelberta. The two parts are tied together, though.
I liked Bridget's insight on this and will use her choice of identifying the two chapter topics.
2. TOM AND EMMA HARDY
a. Theme - The following Bridget comment accurately states the theme of Tomalin’s depiction of the Hardy’s wedding, honeymoon and early marital relations: “we don’t get the feeling that the marriage is a happy one.”
b. Description - There’s a perfunctory marriage with a young stranger girl serving as Tom’s witness and a honeymoon trip described by Emma without little or no mention of Tom. You know there is some problem with the depth of a relationship when Tom has nobody come or participate in the marriage ceremony and Emma can describe a honeymoon trip with hardly a mention of the spouse, the essential element of making a trip a ’honeymoon trip.’
c. Marriage - I thought the state of the Emma & Tom marital relationship was summarized by Tomalin’s speculation that Tom started marriage thinking of Emma as having the makings of a Bathsheba from FFTHC, a woman “gifted with spirit and the power of deciding for herself” and now may have begun thinking of her as “insubstantial as Elfride” from A Pair of Blue Eyes.
3. THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA
a. Tom and Emma Marriage - I found Tomalin’s explanation of Tom’s choice of writing The Hand of Ethelberta as a reflection of his marriage to be a fascinating one. He apparently chose to write about a marriage between classes, much as he viewed his own marriage. Yet, as Bridget points out, Tomalin observes that a “marriage between classes was isolating” making Tom and Emma too much amongst themselves and putting a strain of their ability to function as an effective couple. The less than happy state of his marriage appears to get reflected in the plotting of the novel.
b. A Failure - Tomalin calls Ethelberta “a failure.” While I have read it twice and enjoyed it, I can’t disagree with it being considered one of Hardy’s lesser efforts. I think its less than stellar status can be explained by Hardy purposely avoiding writing anything similar to FFTMC and wanting to include settings and themes that he may not have been as skilled with. In other words, Tom’s own insecurity and stubbornness in choosing a setting, characters and theme, influenced his writing a novel that failed to follow up on the inroads made by FFTMC.
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I really like these observations, Brian. First that Hardy was purposely trying to write something that would be very different from FFTMC. That sounds true to me. I imagine it's hard for a writer to follow up on success. It's got to be intimidating and the instinct to write something completely different seems natural.
But then also the stubbornness and insecurity of Tom must have played into that writing as well. That sounds like Hardy doesn't it??
Bridget wrote: "But then also the stubbornness and insecurity of Tom must have played into that writing as well. That sounds like Hardy doesn't it??"Yes, it sure does.
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Chapter 11: Dreaming the Heath
Part Three begins in 1875 with Tom and Emma returning to England and settling in Sturminster. They rent a house there called "Riverside" or "Rivercliff Villas". It was an idyllic time for the couple. They would live there for two years and it became a time that Hardy would write about in poems later on.
Tom settled into writing The Return of the Native, and a good portion of this chapter involves the writing of that novel. For those who are concerned about SPOILERS, you should know they are peppered throughout this chapter. That said, the spoilers did not stick in my head. Perhaps that's because I have not had the pleasure of reading The Return of the Native so the spoilers didn't have anything to cling to. Whatever the reason, I can attest that I finished this chapter a couple days ago, and I have zero current memory of what those spoilers were.
The thoughts that stick with me from this chapter, are the descriptions of the natural world in Sturminster and how much Tom and Emma enjoyed roaming the countryside there. It sounds quite romantic. It also sounds like nature, or the natural world, is a large part of what makes The Return of the Native a masterpiece. It's interesting to think about Tom sitting in his study, walking the lanes, rowing on the river and turning all that into poetic prose.
It would have been a perfect time for Tom and Emma to start a family, but that was not what fate had in mind for them, which strikes me as very sad. I wonder if their marriage would have been a happy one if children had come, and I wonder how disappointed they both were with that.
I was also sad to hear that The Return of the Native was not received better by the critics. It certainly has aged well, at least thats what my friends who have read it tell me. I'm looking foward to reading it one day soon.
Lastly, here is a link to a website I found about the Hardys and Sturminster. Lots of great pictures, including one of the house they rented.
https://sturminster-newton.org.uk/ten...
Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Yogi Book : I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said (other topics)Winter (other topics)
Winter by Christopher Nicholson (15-Jan-2015) Paperback (other topics)
Winter (other topics)
Winter (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Cecil Day-Lewis (other topics)Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Yogi Berra (other topics)
Yogi Berra (other topics)
George Bernard Shaw (other topics)
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If any of you have finished that chapter, please feel free to comment without waiting for me. I've just been swamped with my "real life" and haven't quite finished the chapter (though I'm almost done).
The first sentence stopped me in my tracks a bit. "Hardy described himself as being still a child at sixteen. This surprised me, because in the last chapter he seemed so independent - walking three miles to and from school everyday.
But then the last chapter did say "Tom was not sent out to earn his living at sixteen". I may be judging Hardy by what I see current 16 year old boys doing. It seems that in 1856 it was normal for a 16 year old young man to start providing for his upkeep. And by that measure, Tom Hardy is still being provided for,, like a child, by his family.
I've read up to the part where Hardy meets William Barnes and Horace Moule, both men we've encountered before, particularly as we read Hardy's poetry. Apparently William Barnes was responsible for coining the term "Wessex". Or maybe it was Henry Moule, commenting on Barnes' dialectic writing. Either way, it's an interesting fact to file away.