HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H0047 5/19/00 "CRITICAL RESPONSE TO FFMC" ===================================================== HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H0047 5/19/00 "CRITICAL RESPONSE TO FFMC" ===================================================== From: jpark1@andover.edu Subject: Hardy: critical response by his contemporaries Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 12:24:08 -0400 Hello. I am writing a paper that has to do with the critical response received by Hardy, especially after his writing of Far from the Madding Crowd. So far I've been only slightly successful in finding information, especially actual reviews from the time. It seems that though Hardy was praised for much of his work, especially regarding the descriptions of rural Victorian England, he was quite poorly understood early on by many critics and came under heavy fire for his "unrealistic descriptions." Could somebody offer some insight on this? Or where I should continue my search for information? Thank you. ========== Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 19:40:38 +0100 From: Birgit Plietzsch Subject: Re: Hardy: critical response by his contemporaries You will find a number of these early reviews reprinted in: Clarke, Graham (Ed.). _Thomas Hardy: Critical Assessments_. Vol. 1 (Mountfiled: Helm Information, 1993). The same information is contained in: Cox, R.G. (Ed.). _Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage_ (London: Routledge, 1970). Birgit Plietzsch ========== Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 15:04:07 -0400 From: jgould@andover.edu (John Gould) Subject: Critical Response for FFMC I am posting this question on behalf of a student presently neck-deep in a research project. Thanks in advance for anyone with thoughts on the issue. John Gould SAME AS ORIGINAL QUESTION FROM JASON PARK Hello. I am writing a paper that has to do with the critical response received by Hardy, especially after his writing of *Far from the Madding Crowd*. So far I've been only slightly successful in finding information, especially actual reviews from the time. It seems that, though Hardy was praised for much of his work, especially regarding the descriptions of rural Victorian England, he was quite poorly understood early on by many critics and came under heavy fire for his "unrealistic descriptions." Could somebody offer some insight on this? Or where I should continue my search for information? Thank you. Jason Park ========== From: wwmorgan@mail.ilstu.edu Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 14:34:09 -0500 Subject: Re: Critical Response for FFMC An invaluable resource for your project, if you can find a copy, would be Carl J. Weber's *A Hundred Years of Thomas Hardy* (I think I have the title right); it lists hundreds of reviews. You would also do well to look at the two-volume *Thomas Hardy: An Annotated Bibliography of Writings About Him*, ed. Helmut E. Gerber & W. Eugene Davis, which not only lists many early reviews but also offer synopses of them. With either of these sources, however, you will need to go further and look up the actual reviews. Best of luck. cheers, Bill Morgan ========== Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 21:00:26 +0100 From: Ray Girvan Subject: Re: Critical Response for FFMC Check out "Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage" (ed. RG Cox, 1970, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, New York: Barnes & Noble). This is a compendium of nearly 80 contemporary reviews. Ray Girvan -- ray.girvan@zetnet.co.uk +++ Technical Author +++ Topsham, Devon, UK http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rgirvan/ +++ The Apothecary's Drawer ==========