Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site reed.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxb!mhuxn!mhuxm!mhuxj!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!rogers From: rogers@reed.UUCP (Michael Rogers) Newsgroups: net.books Subject: Re: clever idea (sort of) (Thomas Hardy) Message-ID: <921@reed.UUCP> Date: Mon, 11-Feb-85 19:48:52 EST Article-I.D.: reed.921 Posted: Mon Feb 11 19:48:52 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Feb-85 07:44:55 EST References: <518@unc.UUCP> Reply-To: rogers@reed.UUCP (Mike Rogers) Followup-To: net.books Distribution: net Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon Lines: 18 Keywords: Hardy Summary: I don't think that Hardy is twit though I have heard a few people express such sentiments. I read JUDE THE OBSCURE about four years ago and found it an excellent (but depressing) novel. Another good one by Hardy is FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD which, like JUDE, is about a young man struggling to live within the outdated Victorian social structure. "Madding" is an outdated contraction of "maddening." JUDE THE OBSCURE was Hardy's last novel (1895), and the best among the 3-4 that I have read. The immediate response of the critics was outrage. A bishop burned his copy (which Hardy in a later postscript to the book said was in lieu of the author himself). This response prompted Hardy to quit writing novels and to compose soley poetry. -mike rogers tektronix!reed!rogers