Synopses & Reviews
In the title story, Car'line Aspent, bewitched and seduced by the dazzling fiddler Mop Ollamoor, rejects her loyal suitor Ned only to repent her decision and seek him out years later. The ten other stories share the theme of love, but they are more than simple love stories. Written with Hardy's customary compassion for ordinary women and his sharp sense of irony, they tell of romantic disasters, betrayals, misunderstandings, and cruelties. The stories in this collection were written between 1888 and 1900, when Hardy was also writing his greatest and most important novels.
Synopsis
The eleven short storiesin this collection range from those with the Wessex setting familiar from Hardy's novels, to aristocratic historical fantasies set in the 17th and 18th centuries, and tragic or ironic contemporary dramas. Enormously readable in their own right, thestories can also be seen as a rich testing ground for ideas and themes that receive more sustained treatment in Hardy's most innovative and controversial novels.
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Synopsis
The Melancholy Hussar/ A Tragedy of Two Ambitions/ The First Countess of Wessex/ Barbara of the House of Grebe/ For Conscience' Sake/ The Son's Veto/ On the Western Circuit/ An Imaginative Woman/ A Changed Man/ Enter a Dragoon
The 11 short storiesin this collection range from those with the Wessex setting familiar from Hardy's novels, to aristocratic historical fantasies set in the 17th and 18th centuries, and tragic or ironic contemporary dramas. Enormously readable in their own right, thestories can also be seen as a rich testing ground for ideas and themes that receive more sustained treatment in Hardy's most innovative and controversial novels.
About the Author
Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school. At sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect, and for many years, architecture was his profession; in his spare time, he pursued his first and last literary love, poetry. Finally convinced that he could earn his living as an author, he retired from architecture, married, and devoted himself to writing. An extremely productive novelist, Hardy published an important book every year or two. In 1896, disturbed by the public outcry over the unconventional subjects of his two greatest novels—
Tess of the DUrbervilles and
Jude the Obscure—he announced that he was giving up fiction and afterward produced only poetry. In later years, he received many honors. He died on January 11, 1928, and was buried in Poets Corner, in Westminster Abbey. It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as his most memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, decisive delineation of character, and profound presentation of tragedy.
Keith Wilson is professor and former chair of English at the University of Ottawa and Honorary Vice President of the Thomas Hardy Association.
Keith Wilson is professor and former chair of English at the University of Ottawa and Honorary Vice President of the Thomas Hardy Association.
Kristin Brady taught English at the University of Western Ontario. She edited The Withered Arm and Other Stories for Penguin Classics.
Kristin Brady taught English at the University of Western Ontario. She edited The Withered Arm and Other Stories for Penguin Classics.
Table of Contents
The Fiddler of the Reels and Other Stories Acknowledgments
General Editor's Preface
Chronology: Hardy's Life and Works
Map: Wessex Novels Edition
Bibliographical Note
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the History of the Texts
Short Stories
The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion
A Tragedy of Two Ambitions
The First Countess of Wessex
Barbara of the House of Grebe
For Conscience's Sake
The Son's Veto
On the Western Circuit
The Fiddler of the Reels
An Imaginative Woman
A Changed Man
Enter a Dragoon
Notes
Appendix I: History of the Short Story Collections
Appendix II: Hardy's Use of History in "The First Countess of Wessex"
Appendix III: A Note on the Illustrations
Glossary