In this book, Anne Alexander examines the grounds for considering the 'dream-country' approach to Hardy's fiction. She shows how the 'dream-country' environment may suggest the awakening of unconscious thoughts and feelings and how Hardy uses this to suggest the extent to which these unconscious thoughts and feelings affect the behavior of individual characters as well as the relationships between men and women.

Hardy's Geography reconsiders a familiar element in Hardy's novels: their use of place and, specifically, of Dorset. Hardy said his Wessex was a 'partly real, partly dream-country'. This study examines how reality and dream interact in his work. Should we look for a real place corresponding to Casterbridge? What is the relation between one person's feelings for a place and society's view of it. Pite concludes that Hardy addresses these issues through a distinctive regional awareness.

First published in 1940 and revised in 1965, this work by the distinguished Hardy Scholar, Carl J. Weber, traces Hardy’s literary career from High Brockhampton to the grave in Poet’s corner, Westminster Abbey. Using a multitude of letters, it explains why Thomas Hardy wrote, and how his books grew from ideas, emotions and experiences to the printed volumes that have delighted the world. This book will be of interest to those studying the works of Thomas Hardy and 19th century literature.

This book reads Hardy's poetry of the rural as deeply rooted in the historical tradition of the pastoral mode even as it complicates and extends it. It shows that in addition to reinstating the original tensions of classical pastoral, Hardy dramatizes a heightened awareness of complex communities and the relations of class, labour, and gender.

Thomas Hardy and the Church traces the development of Hardy's attitude towards Christianity. Through an analysis, firmly rooted in documentary evidence, of his use of the motifs of church architecture, religious ritual, and the characters of clergymen, Jan Jedrzejewski argues that the tension between Hardy's emotional attachment to the Christian tradition and his inability to accept its ontological essence generated a response to Christianity that was complex, often ambiguous, and by no means uniformly critical.

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, the publication attributed with Hardy’s achievement of literary success. As a novel of Victorian England, Far from the Madding Crowd tells the realities of living in the idyllic farming communities of southwest England. Moreover, Hardy is acknowledged for his use of Victorian and modern literary techniques with traditional constructed plots, yet modern psychological development of his characters and reflection of modern problems. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Hardy’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

This biography contains new disclosures and interpretations of evidence, neglecting nothing significant in Hardy's early years or his later life. It draws from innumerable sources, including all his published writings (not least the poems), biographies of him and of contemporaries, correspondence of friends and acquaintances, Emma Hardy's diaries, and many unpublished letters from her and Florence Hardy, and brief background introductions indicate how some of Hardy's friends influenced his career or enriched his life.