Works of Thomas Hardy discussion

Do you remember when you first heard of Thomas Hardy? Did you watch a film of one of his stories? Which one was it? Did you read him at school? Or discover his books for yourself?

Whatever your first memory of Mr. Hardy is, we'd love to hear about it.

Wow ! Jean, you made my day by posting on the all-too-quiet Hardy discussion page !

My first exposure was to the 1967 film Far From the Madding Crowd with Julie Christie as Bathsheba Everdene and Alan Bates as Gabriel Oak, but I didn't see it until it was shown as a weekend film at college around 1976. I doubt that I paid attention to who wrote that great story.

Beyond that, I began going through classic literature in the early 90's, and my first Hardy read was The Return of the Native. THEN I was hooked !

My first exposure to Hardy was in about 1967 and seeing the Signet edition of The Return of the Native that both my older sister and brother were required to read in high school. I was relieved that I never had to read Hardy in high school, from 1967 to 1971 because his reputation was as one of the most boring of those old 19th century authors.
My first read of Hardy was in 1978 when, being bored with the usual college lit, I began to read classics as relaxation reads during my third year of law school. When I decided to read Hardy, I read Return of the Native first, due to my memories of it being the one assigned to my fellow high schoolers. I then read The Mayor of Casterbridge in preparation for watching the BBC2/PBS miniseries starring Alan Bates. I found Hardy to be a far cry from his boring rep.

I was in school; a passage from The Woodlanders got set in a Lit. class - it was about fallen leaves. It was enough for me to want to explore further - I subsequently read all the prose fiction at least once, along with The Dynasts and a smattering of poetry - the latter not appealing to me much.

I chose Jude the Obscure as my British Lit report novel at the age of sixteen - scarred for life. But now I am in my Sixties and feel ready to go back for more. Thanks for the invitation.

Karen wrote: "I chose Jude the Obscure as my British Lit report novel at the age of sixteen - scarred for life. But now I am in my Sixties and feel ready to go back for more. Thanks for the invitation."

Jude - Probably his best novel.

I am 36 and this year was the first time I read Hardy. I read A Pair of Blue Eyes and Far From the Madding Crowd because that’s where the group I read with started. I look forward to Jude and Tess.

My strongest memory of Thomas Hardy was in my 20th Century British Literature class in college. Hardy was unique in that he spanned the Victorian era to the Modern era.

Our textbook started with Hardy and the first poem was Hap. I’ve never forgotten it and was mesmerized by the rhythm, language, and the competing octave and sestet of the sonnet.

Brian wrote: "Wow ! Jean, you made my day by posting on the all-too-quiet Hardy discussion page !

My first exposure was to the 1967 film Far From the Madding Crowd with Julie Christie as Bathsheba Everdene and ..."

I loved that movie. And I recall a young Terence Stamp as Sergeant Troy.

We studied The Mayor of Casterbridge in Grade 11 English in high school and went on a class trip the following year or so to see the first version of Far From the Madding Crowd starring the wonderful Julie Christie. Needless to say, most of us teenage girls were smitten with the handsome Sergeant Troy.

Coming from a German-speaking country, we had English at school, but when we were good enough at it, we read some Shakespeare, but otherwise more modern authors. Don´t remember any Victorian novels which I only discovered in the 2010s. Read my first two Hardy novels in 2014, The Woodlanders, where I´d seen the series with Rufus Sewell before, and Jude the Obscure.

The first time I heard about Thomas Hardy was through university, in my second year Victorian Literature module. So it's coming up to 10 years ago. I found studying the book very interesting and I used his book, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, for a couple of essays. I don't really remember much about Hardy's life compared to Dickens. I have a couple of books on my to-read list and I hope this group will motivate me to read them.

last 4 yrs ago, teaching `Darkling Thursh' poem to my high schoolers. I haven't read any of his novel yet but I enjoy pretty much of his poems. Darkling Thrush is also one magnificent poem.

I'd probably heard Hardy's name before my senior year of high school (I graduated in 1970); but the first exposure to his work that I actually remember was that year, in British Literature class. His "The Three Strangers" was required reading; I greatly liked it, and mentally marked him as a writer to read more of. (We also read some of his poems, including the one written on the last day of the 19th century, though I don't recall the title; but being more into fiction than poetry, the poems didn't really stick in my memory at that time.)

I'm not totally sure. Probably in high school, I guess we might have read snippets there. He must have been one of the authors we could read for English literature in the last years. I chose to read Jane Eyre at the time, and only read Tess of D'urbervilles years and years later. I was also pointed towards Jane Austen by a friend, I think the people on the Jane Austen forum I was on had more influence on me knowing about other writers from the past than school did.

What a fascinating collection of memories so far! What strikes me is how diverse they all are. We didn't all become aware of one specific work, but quite a selection!

I'll tell you mine. I was watching a film programme on TV, where a film critic (Philip Jenkinson if anyone remembers him. Then Barry Norman took over) reviewed the latest releases. One snippet was the part in Far From the Madding Crowd where (view spoiler)[Sergeant Troy has come back from having been suspected drowned. Bathsheba is on the stairs having promised to marry "another". He says in that commanding way, " Come, Bathsheba! I have come to take you home." (hide spoiler)]

So dramatic - we all know what happened next! I was smitten, and also puzzled that anyone should be called "Bathsheba", which sounded so Biblical.

It was probably the next year when I saw the film with Julie Christie and Terence Stamp, and also read the book at school.

Oh, by the way Werner - it's called "The Darkling Thrush," and coincidentally, we are reading that poem right now as our weekly choice!

Sara I am mortified to think anyone could read Jude the Obscure at 12!

Sara wrote: "Jean I had an older sister who always shared her school assignments with me, so when she was assigned Jude I read it too. I was probably too young to understand it properly, but I loved it enough t..."

Sara, how old are you?!
;-)

Bionic Jean wrote: "Oh, by the way Werner - it's called "The Darkling Thrush," and coincidentally, we are reading that poem right now as our weekly choice!"

Yes, that's the one! (I couldn't have told you that title before to save my life, but I remembered it when I read your post. :-) )

That happens to me too, all the time, Werner! Hope to see you there :)

Jude the Obscure was the last Hardy novel I read. I was planning to read it in my first year of university but didn't have time. I finally read a few years after I retired. I think it was my to read list longer than any other book. I'm glad I finally got around to it because it became my favourite Hardy-five glowing stars!

Oh yes, I agree Rosemarie!

Sara - Just in case, I don't think Robert was being cheeky in asking your age, but joking, after you had said "I met Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy all in that same year" :D

Bionic Jean wrote: "Oh yes, I agree Rosemarie!

Sara - Just in case, I don't think Robert was being cheeky in asking your age, but joking, after you had said "I met Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy all in that same ye..."

Yes, just my "take things literally" sense of humour. If I put ;-) at the end it is definitely meant as a joke.

We read The Return of the Native in high school English class. However, when I reread it a few years ago, I found I remembered basically nothing.In college, we read Far from the Madding Crowd, and I saw the movie. But I think as a young person who hadn’t experienced passion, tragedy, fate, etc., the books kind of went over my head.

I think that's very true Robin. We might enjoy these classic books as teenagers, but later in life an extra depth is revealed.

I remember seeing photos from the film of Far from the Madding Crowd in my sister's film magazines, but the first time I read Thomas Hardy was as a set book for O Level of Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Several of us were reading the book at about the same pace and would all come into school distraught at the developments we'd read the night before!

Oh yes! We might be able to capture that again here, Ruth :)

I can't recall the first time I heard about or read Thomas Hardy. I don't think we read one of his books in High School.

My first recollection is of reading one of his books (title unremembered) and being completely immersed, then searching out his other titles. That was in my mid-20s.
I don't recall much of the storylines; just the feeling of enjoying the reads very much.
I'm currently reading, and very much enjoying, The Woodlanders. Nothing is familiar. I think this is the first time I'm reading this book.

Robin, I also enjoy revisiting a book as the years go by. The added life experience opens up the story to another depth (not always, but often in the classics).

Thank you for the invitation to this group Jean. I'm looking forward to being involved.
My first contact with Hardy's writing was studying The Woodlanders for O Level English Lit. It was a challenging read for me and my essays on it weren't very good. I did manage a grade B in my O Level and didn't continue to A Level.
I then tried reading Hardy in my early twenties and was hooked.
I think I've read all his novels but some a long time ago. I will enjoy revisiting them.

Petra - I like that what you remember mainly is enjoying Thomas Hardy's writing :)

Pankies too. Once you're hooked, you're hooked. And it's so nice to meet an existing member :)

I watched Far from the Madding Crowd and it immediately became my favorite movie for decades and still is in the top three. That is what got me interested in the rich storytelling of Hardy.

It was the same for me, Curtis :)

Jude the Obscure was the first book of Hardy I read and I loved it. It was so complex with the games that people play. I thought I have to read his books!

It's been a long time since I've read any Thomas Hardy works, but I think that my first Hardy encounter was reading his novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles (I think for a Victorian lit class in college). I was hooked--although my opinion of some of the main characters has changed since that first reading. :)

As for film adaptations of his works, I've seen and enjoyed the 1980 film, Tess, starring Nastassja Kinski in the title role and Jude (1996), starring Christopher Eccleston as Jude.

I tried to watch the 1967 film version of Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Julie Christie but just couldn't get into it for some reason.

Wow Cosmic - that's a baptism of fire to start reading with Jude the Obscure! It was probably a good job you had seen the film of Far From the Madding Crowd.

Oh April - I urge you to try it again. There is a later one, with Carey Mulligan, but the one with Julie Christie as the impossible Bathsheba can't be bettered in my view.

Oh I do hope you will be with us for Tess next month! It bears many rereads, doesn't it :)

There's a conversation just started in the welcome thread, which is begging to be continued here!

Keith started it with "I'll never understand why so many schools use Return of the Native as an intro to Hardy" and Brian continued, noting the GR ratings.

It surprises me to hear that The Return of the Native is used as an introduction to Thomas Hardy in American (?) schools. I don't personally consider it to be a core novel. The first novel I read at school was Far From the Madding Crowd (in around 1968-9) - and I still think it's a good introduction to his work.

But it might interest some to know that 2 days after I relaunched this group, it was announced in the British press that Thomas Hardy, along with a few other literary greats, is to be dropped from the English school curriculum. It's sad, but then I never studied Charles Dickens at school either! He wasn't considered "literary" enough at that time. There are fashions in everything.

But back to the interesting question, which you may well be asked if you haven't already:

Which novel by Thomas Hardy do you think is the best one to start with?

Ths is a copy of my post from the Welcome group that Jean just referenced, amended by the addition of another section from Keith's post:

Keith wrote: " I'll never understand why so many schools use Return of the Native as an intro to Hardy. Hard to get into --unlike, say, Mayor of Casterbridge, where you have an attention-grabbing scene right off the top. ."

With its description of Egdon Heath, I think The Return of the Native has one of the best beginnings of Hardy novels. However, I agree with your assessment of it being a poor choice to assign students - its beginning is also the most likely to turn a high school student directly to the Cliff's Notes version.
While my memory is that in my 1960s high school days, Return of the Native was the popular choice to assign, I am pretty sure that changed a while ago and that the Hardy novel most apt to be assigned to students in this century would be similar to the order of Hardy novels based on their # of Goodreads ratings:

262,520 ratings -Tess of the D'Urbervilles
141,702 ratings -Far From the Madding Crowd
68,314 ratings - Jude the Obscure
58,288 ratings - The Mayor of Casterbridge
36,413 ratings - The Return of the Native
15,385 ratings - The Woodlanders
12,220 ratings - Under the Greenwood Tree

Thanks Brian! These ratings are interesting. I hadn't noted them before assigning our first read, but did have the impression that a lot of general readers wanted to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and for those of us who are already smitten by Thomas Hardy's writing, that one is already a firm favourite.

It seemed odd starting with a late one in his oeuvre, as we could go through chronologically, but when I considered starting with Under the Greenwood Tree my heart sank. It's short book, but represents such a different way of life, and to my mind is a little too whimsical. His first published book Desperate Remedies didn't seem right either. It's so gothic, and not like the later ones at all!

Hopefully those new to Thomas Hardy will be hooked, once they read Tess of the D'Urbervilles :)

As for my introduction to Hardy, that was Jude the Obscure via my 19th Century English Novels class in college. (The prof must have been in the "Start 'Em Out Right!" club.) But I really got hooked a few years later via the PBS miniseries of The Mayor of Casterbridge, starring Alan Bates.

Ah, I was watching that BBC DVD only about a month or so ago, for the "n"th time Keith! I wonder if you ever saw the BBC series of Jude the Obscure with Robert Powell as Jude, from around the same time. There have been later films, but I watched this as a teenager with my boyfriend, (very appropriate since he was at Oxford University) thinking I liked Thomas Hardy ... and was completely stunned! Now I count it as an all-time favourite, (it's on my shelf here as such) but I've never read anything so shocking.

A very strange one to read first Keith! Your tutor clearly thought you could handle it ...

(Edited)

Only Jude I've seen (this is Keith not Brian, by the way) is the 1996 one with Kate Winslet. I'll try to hunt down the earlier one.

Ooops sorry Keith! Too much scrolling. I've corrected it.

It was on 1971, 6 episodes of three quarters of an hour, so it was quite full https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_th...

Bionic Jean wrote: "Wow Cosmic - that's a baptism of fire to start reading with Jude the Obscure! It was probably a good job you had seen the film of Far From the Madding Crowd.

Oh April - I..."

Bionic Jean wrote: "Wow Cosmic - that's a baptism of fire to start reading with Jude the Obscure! It was probably a good job you had seen the film of Far From the Madding Crowd.

Oh April

Hi Jean,
Thanks for letting me know about the later adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd. It will be interesting to see Carey Mulligan's approach to the character and how it might differ from Julie Christie's.

Hopefully, I'll be able to participate in the Tess group read next month. The new term starts in a few weeks, so a lot will depend on how well I manage my time. :)

Oh I do hope so April!

I might have had a "glance away and you'll miss me" part in that film of Far from the Madding Crowd! They were asking for extras for the crowd scenes at Bridport market, but my hair was too modern a colour.

Bridport is Thomas Hardy's "Port Bredy". It's a market town and the streets still bustle with traditional stalls on a Saturday. Some scenes were set in the 500-year-old Bull Hotel. Hundreds of local people helped as extras or assistants, and the actors stayed in Bridport during filming :)

I have had 5 Hardy novels contest for "best" Hardy experience and all have won out at various times. "Mayor of Casterbridge" has had the longest reign. "Tess" held the position in my middle years, and "Return of the Native" was the first novel on my cherished list of best Hardy novels. When I was in my 20's I think it was "Far from the Madding Crowd." Jude is too bleak, too bleak altogether for me.

Interesting, Natalie. Until recently ROTN was my favorite, too. Now I favor The Woodlanders, Far From the Madding Crowd and Two on a Tower.

I’d never got around to reading Two On A Tower, but was delighted when the BBC offered this adaptation for radio not too long ago. Enthused by this, I’ll give it its due respect when I’ve conquered the current Himalaya of reading matter by my chair, my bed, and on my shelves.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m...

Brian wrote: "Until recently ROTN was my favorite, too. Now I favor The Woodlanders, Far From the Madding Crowd and Two on a Tower."

If The Woodlanders is your favorite Hardy novel, you are in good company with that assessment. As Wikipedia reports:

'The novel remained a personal favourite of Hardy's. Newman Flower recounted that Hardy named it to him as his "favourite novel", and 25 years after its publication, Hardy wrote that, "On taking up The Woodlanders and reading it after many years, I like it as a story best of all."'

Ha ha ! OK.

I never knew that, Brian R!

I consider The Woodlanders status among Hardy novels as similar to Persuasion's status among Jane Austen novels: they are critical more than popular faves.

Persuasion has the 4th most GR ratings yet the 2nd highest avg. GR rating (to P&P)
The Woodlanders has the 6th most ratings but 2nd highest avg. GR rating (tied for 2nd with ROTN behind FFTMC)

Since joing Goodreads in 2014, I have noticed that GR friends that I consider to be fairly discerning readers often cite both novels as a favorite by that author. I can see why they do.
Both of the novels have simpler more direct plots than some of the author's more popular books and have an exceedingly sympathetic hero or heroine with equally sympathetic romantic partners in Anne Eliot/Captain Wentworth and Giles Winterborne/Grace Melbury. They also make quite effective social commentary on issues such as society's double standard and a woman's role as she ages.