Return Of The Native By Thomas Hardy - "Why is it that a woman can see from a distance what a man cannot see close?"

Thomas Hardy

Summary

Thomas Hardy (2nd June 1840 – 11th January 1928), celebrated poet and writer, was born in a modest thatched cottage near Dorchester in the West country, to a builder father.  His mother came from a line of intelligent, lively and ambitious women so ensured her son had the best formal education available for their modest means although this ended when he was 16.  He became a draughtsman specialising in the building of churches was able to  give it up to be a full time writer and poet with the publication of Far From the Madding Crown which became a bestseller and like much of his work was serialised.   His writing reflects his passionate beliefs for social reform and exposes the hypocrisy of the rules of the Victorian age which constrained many freedoms with convention and restricted the transcending of class boundaries.   His novels are almost entirely set in rural Wessex which although fictional is clearly rooted in the SW counties of England where he was born and lived most of his life.  Hardy’s writing caused controversy in his lifetime but despite this he was highly praised and showered with honorary doctorates from many universities, a knighthood, which he refused and in 1910 the prestigious Order of the Merit. Return of the Native opens with an evocative description of the bleak brooding Egdon Heath which is not only the setting for the book but also anticipates the dark tone of the novel.  The native in the title is Clym Yeobright who is returning to the place where he grew up to settle and be a positive part of the community which was missing from his life in Paris.  He falls in love with the tempestuous Eustacia Vye who dreams of passionate love and is dazzled by the idea of a life in Paris which would liberate her from the stifling claustrophobia she feels in Egdon.   Marriage accentuates her restlessness and resolve to escape causing frustration, disappointment, betrayal and tragedy.  Hardy provides a poetic compassion for both characters and creates powerful scenes heightening the dramatic tension and making this a special read.

Available since: 08/20/2013.

Other books that might interest you

A Simple Soul

Gustave Flaubert

A Simple Heart, also called Un cœur simple or Le perroquet in French, is a story about a servant girl named Felicité. After her one and only love Théodore purportedly marries a well-to-do woman to avoid conscription, Felicité quits the farm she works on and heads for Pont-l'Évèque where she immediately picks up work in a widow's house as a servant. She is very loyal, and easily lends her affections to the two children of her mistress, Mme Aubain. She gives entirely to others, and although many take advantage of her she is unaffected. She is the epitome of a selfless character, and Flaubert shows how true altruism – the reality of being truly selfless – is the reward in itself. Whatever comes her way she is able to deal with it.

Show book

The Facts

Ring Lardner

When Billy Bowen and Ellen McDonald's engagement is broken off, nobody quite knows the full story. Slowly the facts are pieced together to reveal a hilarious catalogue of mishaps and misunderstandings which result in a most catastrophic Christmas list. Ring Lardner's comic genius at his most masterful!

Show book

Lover's Complaint & The Phoenix...

William Shakespeare

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.
‘In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine, For thou art all, and all things else are thine.’
Two of Shakespeare’s most revered and elegiac poems.
In The Phoenix and the Turtle, the mythical phoenix consumes itself in fire, from the ashes of which another phoenix is born. In Shakespeare's poem, the phoenix is female and the turtle (that is, a turtledove) is male.
In A Lover’s Complaint, originally published with the sonnets, a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.
All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.
Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.
The full cast includes: Joan Hart and William Squire.
This top-notch production, short in length but rich in content, brings the best of European theatre to the comfort of your home. The performing prowess of the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players is evident, making each verse resonate with emotion.
For fans of Richard Parsons (GCSE English Shakespeare Text Guide), and Arthur Miller (Incident at Vichy).

Show book

Essential Science Fiction

Jules Verne

The essential novels of Jules Verne include the classics such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Enjoy all three novels in this enthralling science-fiction collection.

Show book

The Best of Bruce Chatwin - On...

Bruce Chatwin

A Whitbread Award–winning novel of Welsh twins and an international bestseller about Aboriginal culture by “the brilliant English writer and stylish nomad” (Los Angeles Times). After his masterpiece of travel writing, In Patagonia, put him on the literary map, Bruce Chatwin penned a novel about twin brothers who never venture far from their Welsh farm. On the Black Hill won the Whitbread Literary Award for Best First Novel and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Following that work of fiction, Chatwin turned his focus to Australia and Aboriginal culture, creating a wholly original hybrid of memoir, travelogue, and novel in the international bestseller, The Songlines. On the Black Hill: For forty-two years, identical twins Lewis and Benjamin Jones have shared a bed, a farm, and a life. But the world has made its mark on them each in different ways. At eighty, Lewis is still strong enough to wield an ax, and though he’s hardly ever ventured outside his little village on the Welsh/English border, he dreams of far-off lands. Benjamin is gentler, a cook whose favorite task is delivering baby lambs, and even in his old age, remains devoted to the memory of their mother. With his delicate attention to detail, Chatwin’s intense and poetic portrait of their shared lives in a little patch of Wales is “beautiful and haunting” (Los Angeles Times). “A brooding pastoral tale full of tender grandeur.” —The New York Times Book Review The Songlines: Long ago, the creators wandered Australia and sang the landscape into being, naming every rock, tree, and watering hole in the great desert. Those songs were passed down to the Aboriginals, and for centuries they have served not only as a shared heritage, but also as a living map. Entranced by this cultural heritage, a narrator named Bruce travels to Australia to probe the deepest meaning of these ancient, living songs, and embarks on a profound exploration of the nomadic instinct. “Extraordinary. A remarkable and satisfying book.” —The Observer

Show book

The Black Arrow

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow tells the story of Richard (Dick) Shelton during the Wars of the Roses: how he becomes a knight, rescues his lady Joanna Sedley, and obtains justice for the murder of his father, Sir Harry Shelton. Outlaws in Tunstall Forest organised by Ellis Duckworth, whose weapon and calling card is a black arrow, cause Dick to suspect that his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley and his retainers are responsible for his father's murder. Dick's suspicions are enough to turn Sir Daniel against him, so he has no recourse but to escape from Sir Daniel and join the outlaws of the Black Arrow against him. This struggle sweeps him up into the greater conflict surrounding them all.

Show book