Description
Thomas Hardy has generally been viewed as an intensely private figure, shy of publicity and even of people, self-isolated in his Dorsetshire home, and much more cautious and conservative in his personal outlook than might be expected of the author of Tess of the D'Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure. What the present volume reveals is that Hardy's public utterances, addressed to a wide range of literary, social, and political issues, were far more numerous and various than has previously been imagined. His essays, speeches, and other acknowledged pieces, both formal and informal, are here fully described, edited, and annotated, together with the letters he wrote to newspapers and the many unsigned items, from obituaries to clandestine contributions to literary gossip-columns, that have now been securely or tentatively identified. Also described, although not necessarily reproduced, are his designs for tombstones and memorials, and some of the more striking instances of his lending his (immensely famous) name to causes and organizations of which he approved and to public letters initiated by others. The edition as a whole is thus a major work of textual scholarship and a rich source of fresh and often surprising information about a little understood aspect of Hardy's life and work.
About the Author
Michael Millgate is a highly distinguished Hardyan, whose many scholarly works include Thomas Hardy: His Career as a Novelist (1972); the acclaimed life Thomas Hardy: A Biography (Oxford, 1982); estamentary Acts: Browning, Tennyson, James, Hardy (Oxford, 1992); [with Richard L. Purdy] editor of The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy (7 volumes, Oxford 1978-88); editor of Thomas Hardy: Selected Letters (Oxford, 1990) and Letters of Emma and Florence Hardy (Oxford 1996).
Reviews
This collection of "public utterances" by a writer conventionally assumed to have guarded his privacy to the point of fastidiousness is an invaluable addition to the outstanding body of scholarship that Michael Millgate has contributed to Hardy studies over the many years during which he has been transforming them. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
Organized into clear chronological sequence, annotated with the meticulousness and understated wit characteristic of all Millgate's editorial work, and presented with the same typographical elegance that Clarendon Press brought to the Collected Letters, this book is a tribute to both its subject and its conceiver. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
... a book that will be at once an essential reference tool for every Hardy scholar and a delight for the general Hardy enthusiast. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
Debunks the myth of Hardy as the reclusive and reactionary elder statesman of English letters ... Millgate provides a richly textured account of the nature and extent of his [Hardy's] involvement in public life ... Millgate's edition deepens existing knowledge of Hardy's non-fictional writings, and in so doing enriches awareness of the ways in which he tried to reconcile his professional ambitions with his social ideals ... The scale and breadth of this edition is a piquant irony that Hardy himself would have relished. * The Cambridge Quarterly *
Michael Millgate's meticulously edited collection of Hardy's prose writings casts new light on his contribution to public discourse ... an important new scholarly resource ... One of the most rewarding aspects of the book is the light it sheds, both explicitly and implicitly, on late Victorian notions of authorship. * Review of English Studies *
Fascinating compilation ... scrupulous and helpful editorial work ... Thomas Hardy's Public Voice is a welcome addition to the corpus of a writer who seems to become greater with each passing year. * John Lucas, Times Literary Supplement *
By editing this comprehensive collection of Hardy's non-fictional public utterances Michael Millgate has done yet another great service for Hardy scholarship and put us all more than ever in his debt. * James Gibson, The Thomas Hardy Journal *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198185260
Author Thomas Hardy
Format Hardback
Page Count 540
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 163mm * 33mm
About the Author
Michael Millgate is a highly distinguished Hardyan, whose many scholarly works include Thomas Hardy: His Career as a Novelist (1972); the acclaimed life Thomas Hardy: A Biography (Oxford, 1982); estamentary Acts: Browning, Tennyson, James, Hardy (Oxford, 1992); [with Richard L. Purdy] editor of The Collected Letters of Thomas Hardy (7 volumes, Oxford 1978-88); editor of Thomas Hardy: Selected Letters (Oxford, 1990) and Letters of Emma and Florence Hardy (Oxford 1996).
Reviews
This collection of "public utterances" by a writer conventionally assumed to have guarded his privacy to the point of fastidiousness is an invaluable addition to the outstanding body of scholarship that Michael Millgate has contributed to Hardy studies over the many years during which he has been transforming them. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
Organized into clear chronological sequence, annotated with the meticulousness and understated wit characteristic of all Millgate's editorial work, and presented with the same typographical elegance that Clarendon Press brought to the Collected Letters, this book is a tribute to both its subject and its conceiver. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
... a book that will be at once an essential reference tool for every Hardy scholar and a delight for the general Hardy enthusiast. * English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 *
Debunks the myth of Hardy as the reclusive and reactionary elder statesman of English letters ... Millgate provides a richly textured account of the nature and extent of his [Hardy's] involvement in public life ... Millgate's edition deepens existing knowledge of Hardy's non-fictional writings, and in so doing enriches awareness of the ways in which he tried to reconcile his professional ambitions with his social ideals ... The scale and breadth of this edition is a piquant irony that Hardy himself would have relished. * The Cambridge Quarterly *
Michael Millgate's meticulously edited collection of Hardy's prose writings casts new light on his contribution to public discourse ... an important new scholarly resource ... One of the most rewarding aspects of the book is the light it sheds, both explicitly and implicitly, on late Victorian notions of authorship. * Review of English Studies *
Fascinating compilation ... scrupulous and helpful editorial work ... Thomas Hardy's Public Voice is a welcome addition to the corpus of a writer who seems to become greater with each passing year. * John Lucas, Times Literary Supplement *
By editing this comprehensive collection of Hardy's non-fictional public utterances Michael Millgate has done yet another great service for Hardy scholarship and put us all more than ever in his debt. * James Gibson, The Thomas Hardy Journal *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198185260
Author Thomas Hardy
Format Hardback
Page Count 540
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 163mm * 33mm
