{"product_id":"the-return-of-the-native-introduction-by-john-bayley","title":"The Return of the Native: Introduction by John Bayley","description":"\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMarc Notes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIncludes bibliographical references (p. xxvii).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTHOMAS HARDY, whose writings immortalized the Wessex countryside and dramatized his sense of the inevitable tragedy of life, was born near Egdon Heath in Dorset in 1840, the eldest child of a prosperous stonemason. As a youth he trained as an architect and in 1862 obtained a post in London. During this time he began seriously to write poetry, which remained his first literary love and his last. In 1867-68, his first novel was refused publication, but \n\u003ci\u003eUnder the Greenwood Tree\u003c\/i\u003e (1872), his first Wessex novel, did well enough to convince him to continue writing. In 1874, \n\u003ci\u003eFar from the Madding Crowd\u003c\/i\u003e, published serially and anonymously in the \n\u003ci\u003eCornhill Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, became a great success. Hardy married Emma Gifford in 1874, and in 1875 they settled at Max Gate in Dorchester, where he lived the rest of his life. There he wrote \n\u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e (1878), \n\u003ci\u003eThe Mayor of Casterbridge\u003c\/i\u003e (1886), \n\u003ci\u003eTess of the d'Urbervilles\u003c\/i\u003e (1891), and \n\u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure \u003c\/i\u003e(1895). With \n\u003ci\u003eTess\u003c\/i\u003e, Hardy clashed with the expectations of his audience; a storm of abuse broke over the \"infidelity\" and \"obscenity\" of this great novel he had subtitled \"A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.\" \n\u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure\u003c\/i\u003e aroused even greater indignation and was denounced as pornography. Hardy's disgust at the reaction to \n\u003ci\u003eJude\u003c\/i\u003e led him to announce in 1896 that he would never write fiction again. He published \n\u003ci\u003eWessex Poems\u003c\/i\u003e in 1898, \n\u003ci\u003ePoems of the Past and Present\u003c\/i\u003e in 1901, and from 1903 to 1908, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Dynasts\u003c\/i\u003e, a huge drama in which Hardy's conception of the Immanent Will, implicit in the tragic novels, is most clearly stated. In 1912, Hardy's wife, Emma, died. The marriage was childless and had long been a troubled one, but in the years after her death, Hardy memorialized her in several poems. At seventy-four, he married his longtime secretary, Florence Dugdale, herself a writer of children's books and articles, with whom he lived happily until his death in 1928. His heart was buried in the Wessex countryside; his ashes were placed next to Charles Dickens's in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Most of Hardy's novels, and particularly the early ones, have a Shakespearean power of creating a unique world and climate of being . . . \n\u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e is . . . thoughtful, valedictory, poetic, tinged with the somberness of an uncertainty which seems to well up from the depths of the author's own subconscious . . . Hardy's sense of the tragic life of human beings, mere small fragments of consciousness in a vast uncaring universe, comes directly from his own youthful awareness of the place and circumstances described in the novel.\" -from the Introduction by John Bayley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eWilson Fiction Catalog\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/11\/2019 (EAN 9780679417309, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eAudio File\u003c\/span\u003e 10\/01\/2014 pg. 56 (EAN 9781843798132, Compact Disc)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardy, Thomas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Everyman's Library\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePub Date:\u003c\/b\u003e 1992-11-03\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC:\u003c\/b\u003e Fiction|Classics|Fiction|Literary|Fiction|Romance|Historical - Victorian|Fiction|Historical|General\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSubjects:\u003c\/b\u003e Mothers and sons|Adultery|Mate selection|Love stories|Wessex (England)|Didactic fiction|Heathlands|People with visual disabilities\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.29 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679417309\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eASIN:\u003c\/b\u003e -\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSKU:\u003c\/b\u003e SP-9780679417309\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Everyman's Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52148300611865,"sku":"SP-9780679417309","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0913\/0380\/5209\/files\/8da53375-be7c-4bed-ab24-23cf637da1f0.jpg?v=1784490317","url":"https:\/\/westbindery.com\/products\/the-return-of-the-native-introduction-by-john-bayley","provider":"West Bindery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}