Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Wordsworth Classics) - Softcover

Thomas Hardy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853260053 ISBN 13: 9781853260056

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 1992

Synopsis

Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury.

Set in Hardy's Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic.

It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of d'Urbeville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy. It explores Tess's relationships with two very different men, her struggle against the social mores of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the hypocrisy of the age.

In addressing the double standards of the time, Hardy's masterly evocation of a world which we have lost, provides one of the most compelling stories in the canon of English literature, whose appeal today defies the judgement of Hardy's contemporary critics.

About this title

Review:

""Audie Award winner Simon Vance's reading is straightforward, well paced, and clear."" - --Library Journal Audio Review

From the Publisher:

The Broadview Editions series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Editions series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 1853260053
• ISBN 13: 9781853260056
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384