"Far From the Madding Crowd" Introduction & General Information

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

This is the thread that has been created for the posting and discussion of background and general information associated with our group-read of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Welcome to the group-read of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd! We begin discussion of this beautiful novel on August 1, 2010, concluding with beginning the discussion of the sixth, and final, part on September 5, 2010.

Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd" was serialized in twelve monthly installments in Cornhill Magazine, edited by Leslie Stephen (the father of Virgina Woolf). The magazine published the novel over the period of January through December 1874.

In essence then, I have combined two of the original Cornhill installments together for each weekly discussion section, and have used the chapter designations from the novel (i.e., Roman numerals). Each of the six sections of the novel range in length from 63 pages to as much as 84 pages in my Everyman's Library hard-cover edition. I assume that most editions that folks have available will be generally comparable.

I plan to move some of the general information and links about Thomas Hardy, his Wessex novels, and "Far From the Madding Crowd" from the existing "Thomas Hardy" folder over here too. So, stay tuned!

I look forward to reading this wonderful novel with all of you over the next few weeks. Cheers! Chris

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Simply put, "Far From the Madding Crowd" is a novel steeped in the agrarian milieu. Hardy continues the classic pastoral tradition handed down from the ancient Greeks, through Shakespeare, to Wordsworth, and even up through Hardy's contemporary, George Eliot (she died in 1880).

Hardy obtained the title for the novel from a line in Thomas Gray's poem, "Elegy Written In A Country Church-Yard" (1751). This poem has been described as "a pastoral meditation on the undistinguished but not undignified lives of rural dwellers." I am attaching the entire poem here, and encourage you to read it.

Elegy written in a Country Church-yard

THE Curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bow'r,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,
The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke:
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye Proud, impute to These the fault,
If Memory o'er their Tomb no Trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;
Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village Hampden that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone
Their glowing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our Ashes live their wonted Fires.

For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

Haply some hoary-headed Swain may say,
'Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

'There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

'Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

'One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

'The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn:'

THE EPITAPH.

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,)
The bosom of his Father and his God.

By Thomas Gray (1716-71).

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Regarding Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, Virginia Woolf had this to say--

"Hardy's genius was uncertain in development, uneven in accomplishment, but, when the moment came, magnificent in achievement. The moment came, completely and fully, in Far From the Madding Crowd. The subject was right; the method was right; the poet and the countryman, the sensual man, the somber reflective man, the man of learning, all enlisted to produce a book which, however fashions may chop and change, must hold its place among the great English novels. There is, in the first place, that sense of the physical world which Hardy more than any other novelist can bring before us; the sense that the little prospect of man's existence is ringed by a landscape which, while it exists apart, yet confers a deep and solemn beauty upon his drama."

--from The Common Reader: Second Series (1932)

[Laura]

Chris, I'm new to this group, so forgive my lack of knowledge but are you an English teacher? You're doing a great job with this!

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Laura wrote: "Chris, I'm new to this group, so forgive my lack of knowledge but are you an English teacher? You're doing a great job with this!"

LOL! No, Laura, I am not. I am a geologist, by education, working in a natural resources position. I am an avid reader and love to research things that interest me. My eldest daughter, however, has almost completed her Ph.D. in English, and is looking forward to teaching at the college level for a career. I truly do envy her. Maybe when I retire I can go back to school and follow my bliss.

Enjoy the information here, and I do hope you'll join in the discussions! Cheers! Chris

[Laura]

I will be, my book is on its way to me as I speak! You certainly have a gift, Chris, thanks for the info!

[[deleted user]]

I'm watching the BBC adaptation on youtube. Nathaniel Parker is ruining my image of Gabriel Oak. I thought of him as understanding and wise, if made a little coarse by his social position, but not a tactless halfwit!

Christopher, I think Thomas Gray's poem had a deep effect on Hardy. After all, it strongly influenced the latter's poem Friends Beyond.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Here's a page of links to satellite imagery and maps for a goodly number of classic novels, including Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd.

You can zoom in and get an up-close-and-personal look at the locale; change to the satellite image and really get a sense of the local environment, etc. There are numbered 'stick-pins' on the maps/images that mark the locations of important features and locales mentioned in the novels.

Here's the link-- http://mapsoftheclassics.blogspot.com/

Have fun!

[SarahC]

Wow, Chris, -- where to begin, where to begin..... Thanks.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

For those who are interested, on August 2nd Turner Classic Movies is showing the 1967 adaptation of "Far From the Madding Crowd", starring Julie Christie (Bathsheba Everdene) and Alan Bates, and directed by John Schlesinger. This is a gorgeous movie and does great justice to the novel.

Just thought you might like to know, and you can get the DVR set! Cheers! Chris

[Rebecca]

I read the introducton of FFTMC last night. For me there was a wealth of information contained there. Since authors write what they know its always beneficial to read and learn about them. Thanks for all the great links posted, it sure has been fun to browse. I still want to learn more about the pastoral and organic terms that are mentioned in the intro.

[[deleted user]]

Rebecca wrote: "I read the introducton of FFTMC last night. For me there was a wealth of information contained there. Since authors write what they know its always beneficial to read and learn about them. Thanks ..."

Thanks for reminding me, I must go and read the Introduction. I learnt my lesson early on never to read it before the actual novel, but now I always forget.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Rebecca wrote: "I read the introducton of FFTMC last night. For me there was a wealth of information contained there. Since authors write what they know its always beneficial to read and learn about them. Thanks ..."

I always read the 'Introduction' to any novel, or book, that has one. As it is supposed to, it introduces the book to the reader. I know some people who don't because there is always the odd possibility that one encounters a spoiler or two. Having the knowledge to place the author and his content in proper context always makes for a better read for me. In my humble opinion, the introductions included with the Penguin Classics editions are consistently some of the very best that I have ever encountered. I have all of the Thomas Hardy novels in the 'Everyman's Library' hardcover edition, and the introductions are good; just not quite as good as the Penguin Classics.

[Everyman]

Christopher wrote: My eldest daughter, however, has almost completed her Ph.D. in English, and is looking forward to teaching at the college level for a career. "

May we count on her joining us for the discussion?

[Everyman]

Lauren wrote: "I'm watching the BBC adaptation on youtube. Nathaniel Parker is ruining my image of Gabriel Oak. I thought of him as understanding and wise, if made a little coarse by his social position, but not a tactless halfwit! "

If that's really the way he's presenting the character, I agree with you, it's not at all how I understand Hardy's presentation of Farmer Oak.

[MadgeUK]

Lauren wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "I read the introducton of FFTMC last night. For me there was a wealth of information contained there. Since authors write what they know its always beneficial to read and learn ab..."

I always read Introductions first, even if they might contain spoilers. Some readers like to come to a book as virgins but I prefer to be deflowered, as it were:):).

[MadgeUK]

"Lauren wrote: "I'm watching the BBC adaptation on youtube. Nathaniel Parker is ruining my image of Gabriel Oak. I thought of him as understanding and wise, if made a little coarse by his social pos..."

Everyman wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I'm watching the BBC adaptation on youtube. Nathaniel Parker is ruining my image of Gabriel Oak. I thought of him as understanding and wise, if made a little coarse by his social pos..."

I think that in the early episodes he is portraying a countryman tongue-tied around women and unused to them, particularly a more sophisticated one like Bathsheba. To us today, the dialect may make him seem like a yokel but most country people would have spoken like that then. I think he is rather sweet:, although I preferred the film with Alan Bates and Julie Christie:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuHlMn....

The Youtube BBC version is worth watching if only for the panoramas of the Dorset countryside (I'll be there tomorrow!!!!). The series was filmed entirely on location there.

[Marialyce]

Chris, I would love to join in on the discussion and can get the book today as soon as B and N opens. It is too late to "sign up?" I assume that people are reading the first chapter (section) Is there a scheduled date for all of this?

Sorry about arriving late to the party. Laura just recommended it to me yesterday and I have never read anything by Hardy and thought this would be a great introduction.

[Laura]

Yay, so glad to see you here Marialyce!

I was wondering if there is a reading schedule too.

[Marialyce]

Thanks for this recommendation, Laura. I can always get it on my husband's kindle. (therefore avoiding a costly :) trip to B and N where I know I will buy more than one book!

[Laura]

I hear you on that!

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Marialyce wrote: "Chris, I would love to join in on the discussion and can get the book today as soon as B and N opens. It is too late to "sign up?" I assume that people are reading the first chapter (section) Is th..."

Marialyce, I am glad that you are going to join in on the discussion of "Far From the Madding Crowd"! It is a fabulous novel! I have posted the six discussion thread headers covering the book in six sections that we will be reading, starting today (August 1st) through the week of September 5-11. So, plan on dropping by and making your presence felt with your comments and observations.

Also, I want to welcome you to the "Victorians" group! You'll have loads of fun here! Cheers! Chris

[Marialyce]

Thanks, Chris! I will be putting it on the Kindle today and starting it then.

[Rachel]

I'll be joining in this discussion, I think, but I need to get a couple more things read first! :) You all have already posted some fascinating stuff here, hope I can catch up later!

[Everyman]

Marialyce wrote: "Thanks for this recommendation, Laura. I can always get it on my husband's kindle. "

I'm reading it on the Kindle, got it free from the Amazon website. Free is good!

[Paula]

I agree - great work with all the intro info and poetry additions, Christopher!!

[Everyman]

Fiona wrote: "As quite a few of my GR friends seem to be reading this, ...."

Is GR Goodreads, or something more esoteric?

[Everyman]

Christopher -- I'm not clear about the timing of the discussion. Boof scheduled six weeks for the read, and you posted six discussion sections, but are you preferring that we wait to proceed to each section for roughly a week so that slower readers don't get way behind in the discussion, or is it open season on all sections so that as soon as a reader has finished one section (or even before if he or she doesn't mind encountering spoilers) they can start posting in that section right away?

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Everyman wrote: "Christopher -- I'm not clear about the timing of the discussion. Boof scheduled six weeks for the read, and you posted six discussion sections, but are you preferring that we wait to proceed to ea..."

Personally, I am of the opinion that it is okay to enter the sections you are ready for. Hopefully, folks are aware that if they 'pop' into a later section, that they may encounter plot points that they've not yet encountered. Now we'll see if I have raised a hue and cry on this approach. What do the rest of you think? Everyman, others?

Your wish is my command! Cheers! Chris

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Everyman wrote: "Christopher -- I'm not clear about the timing of the discussion. Boof scheduled six weeks for the read, and you posted six discussion sections, but are you preferring that we wait to proceed to ea..."

Everyman, I have include a stronger "Spoiler" warning in of the remaining five discussion threads. I think that may provide the fair warning for folks so that no one ends up with a surprise. Have a look and let me know what you think. Thanks muchly! Chris

[[deleted user]]

On the subject of “Wessex”, I am going to use an edition of Far From the Madding Crowd which I inherited from my father, It was published in London by Macmillan in 1932. It contains a Preface which Hardy wrote originally for a new edition in 1895 and revised in 1902. Now you may already be aware of this preface for it must be contained in many editions, but in case you are not, here is an extract:

“In reprinting this story for a new edition, I am reminded that it was in the chapters of “Far From the Madding Crowd”, as they appeared month by month in a popular magazine, that I first ventured to adopt the word “Wessex” from the pages of early English history, and gave it a fictitious significance as the existing name of the district once included in that extinct Kingdom. The series of novels I projected being mainly the kind called local, they seemed to require a territorial definition of some sort to lend unity to their scene. Finding that the area of a single county did not afford a canvas large enough for this purpose, and that there were objections to an invented name, I disinterred the old one… But I believe I am correct in stating that, until the existence of this contemporaneous Wessex in place of the usual counties was announced in the present story, in 1874, it had never been heard of in fiction and current speech, if at all, and that the expression “a Wessex peasant” or “a Wessex custom” would theretofore have been taken to refer to nothing later in date than the Norman Conquest.”

Hardy goes on to say that: “I did not anticipate that this application of the word to modern story would extend outside the chapters of these particular chronicles. But it was soon taken up elsewhere… Since then the appellation which I had thought to reserve to the horizons and landscapes of a partly real, partly dream-country, has become more and more popular as a practical provincial definition; and the dream-country has, by degrees, solidified into a utilitarian region which people can go to, take a house in and write to the papers from. But I ask all good and idealistic readers to forget this, and to refuse steadfastly to believe that there are any inhabitants of a Victorian Wessex outside these volumes in which their lives and conversations are detailed.”

[Em]

I think I'll be taking each section on a weekly basis, if only because I'll have other books on the go at the same time but I plan on avoiding the next discussion until I'm ready.

[Marialyce]

Me too!

[Everyman]

Em wrote: "I think I'll be taking each section on a weekly basis, if only because I'll have other books on the go at the same time but I plan on avoiding the next discussion until I'm ready."

I actually like the "take it slowly" approach because it gives enough time to thoroughly discuss each section, and the slower readers don't come to the final section and find that they are many, many posts behind the time and many readers have long since finished the book, made their points, and moved on. So personally, I think the discussion goes better on a schedule. But I understand also that readers who only like to read one book at a time (I generally have five or more books going at once, in different places around the house) don't really want to spend six weeks reading one book, and don't want to read a book move on to the next book, and then have to come back weeks later to discuss the ending of the book they're long ago finished.

So I could take either side of the issue, and different moderators feel different ways (which I why I asked the question.)

(The group I moderate, Classics and the Western Canon, goes on the read-and-discuss-on-a-schedule principle, but that doesn't make it the right or best way.)

[SarahC]

Reading and discussing weekly is fine with me. I feel I am already behind on first week's comments, so I am probably one of those slow talkers. Everyman, I usually read through most or all of the book, but during the schedule go back through and read more. And then I am reading other books during the time too, so it doesn't hold me up from other things either. Maybe others do that too, I don't know.

[Marialyce]

I also, like the assignment of reading slowly. I find if I read ahead, I often forget an item that struck me as wonderful or irksome at the time. I am not one who marks up a book. I guess it comes from using books that were shared in school and one was cautioned NEVER to write in them. I think that there are some books that demand to be read slowly and savored while others one can be read through in a sitting or two.

So, I agree with you, Everyman and Sarah.

[MadgeUK]

I think Hardy is best read slowly, firstly because of the long, descriptive passages which need to be savoured and secondly because of the dialect which, for the uninitiated, needs to be deciphered (hopefully via a Glossary at the back of the book!).

[[deleted user]]

I find myself hurrying along like I always do, especially over the descriptive bits. But I've gone back a couple of times and slowly read chunks of it out loud. It helps me catch every word and boosts my comprehension. I don't recommend it when snarky family members are around.

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Kathy wrote: "I find myself hurrying along like I always do, especially over the descriptive bits. But I've gone back a couple of times and slowly read chunks of it out loud. It helps me catch every word and boo..."

I am a pretty deliberate reader anyway, but with Hardy I really love to savor it and look at the nuances. While Hardy is descriptive, I personally do not find that he is 'wordy' (like say, Henry James?). Every word has real meaning in these novels, sometimes cleverly hidden and camouflaged, but it is there. Other times he just hits you up side the head with his boldness and directness. Overall, from a structural and stylistic perspective, it is the strong lyricism and poetic nature of his prose that appeals to me the most. Cheers! Chris

[[deleted user]]

Henry James. Exactly. The Golden Bowl = a 600 page short story.

[Laura]

Christopher wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Christopher -- I'm not clear about the timing of the discussion. Boof scheduled six weeks for the read, and you posted six discussion sections, but are you preferring that we wait..."

Sounds good to me. With chapter titles on the various sections, it seems folks have fair warning.

[SarahC]

I just read a portion of the essays in The Genius of Thomas Hardy. I was fascinated by the one by Lois Deacon describing her belief about Hardy's relationship with Tryphena Sparks. A situation like that would have been enough to start his fatalist beliefs. It seems hard to read FFTMC though strictly through the eyes of a fatalist. There seems so much more there.

[Everyman]

Sarah wrote: "I just read a portion of the essays in The Genius of Thomas Hardy. I was fascinated by the one by Lois Deacon describing her belief about Hardy's relationship with Tryphena Sparks. A..."

More, please? What is it that Deacon says?

[SarahC]

Everyman, Deacon contends that one of the main influences of Hardy's life was the break up of his engagement to cousin Tryphena Sparks. Due to her own connection with Tryphena's family, Deacon believes that Tryphena was actually Hardy's illegimate niece, and that was the real reason why they were forbidden to marry.

Hardy also introduced Tryphena to his friend Horace Moule, creating another doomed relationship, which may have been the reason for Moule's suicide.

Hardy, never able to finally deal with either of these things, continued to write himself, Tryphena, and Horace into the characters in his fiction.

Deacon gathers many clues regarding all this from Hardy's poety.

I apologize Eman, this may have been old information to you, because you have probably studied TH. Thanks for asking though, others might find a fresh theory.

[SarahC]

MadgeUK wrote: "The Tryphena affair is all a bit speculative, there being no conclusive proof.. Tomalin gives the idea short shrift - can you quote her on this Everyman, I have put my copy in the loft!:-

http://m..."

No conclusive proof at all, but interesting all the same. Not so far from reality that there might be something to it.

[Everyman]

Sarah wrote: "Everyman, Deacon contends..."

Thanks. No, that wasn't old hat information to me -- I had known about his desire and inability to marry Tryphena Sparks, but wasn't aware of the possibility of her being an illegitimate niece, nor of the Moule situation. So thanks for sharing!

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.)]

Based upon my read of Tomalin's biography, I think Hardy may had an infatuation with Tryphena Sparks for some period of time; but I honestly don't think much came of it (and it may have really been more one-sided than anything else). He did write a poem in 1890, upon word of her death, entitled "Thoughts of Phena" (No. 38 in Gibson's variorum edition of "The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy"). Reading the poem I come to the conclusion that while there were feelings on his part, I really have to wonder if it wasn't a romance in his heart and mind alone?

This is just my opinion, but I think Hardy tended to become attracted to women he encountered rather easily too. One wonders if some of this is related, in some fashion, to his own internal interpretation of the Shelleyan perspective of the pursuit of an idealized Love? He was an unabashed admirer of Shelley, and incorporated Shelleyan notions liberally in his poetry and prose.

This is a very intriguing topic, and I'm very much enjoying the discussion with all of you. Cheers! Chris