HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H02010 2/3/02 "CAKES AND ALE QUESTION"
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From: Kelseym221@cs.com
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 22:54:19 EST
Subject: Cakes and Ale

Hello list members,                                                                                            I've recently finished reading W. Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale, a novel loosely based on the life and literary success of Thomas Hardy. Still somewhat a novice when it comes to Hardyology, and unable to find any essays or pieces on Cakes and Ale, I was wondering if any of you could tell me how closely the book mirrors Hardy's life!  and marriage to Emma....(or in other words, did Hardy really have that distate for bathing and changing his undergarments :) ) Am anxious to hear the replies.                                                                                                 Thank you,                                         
                                                              Kelsey

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Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 15:27:58 -0800
From: Betty Cortus <hardycor@owl.csusm.edu>
Subject: Re: Cakes and Ale
Dear Kelsey,
Keep in mind that _Cakes and Ale _ is a work of fiction.  I reread it
recently after many years, and apart from the fact that Hardy did ride a
bicycle, and wrote books, I found very little in it relating it to the
facts of Hardy's life or character, or that or his two wives.  A good place
to look for a balanced account of the relationship between the characters
in the book  (or rather lack of it)  and the real Hardys is _The Second
Mrs. Hardy_ by Robert Gittings and Jo Manton, Heinemann,  (1979).

Best Wishes,
Betty Cortus

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Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 11:00:35 -0500
From: Rosemarie Morgan <rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu>
Subject: Re: Cakes and Ale
 

Just a quickie to add to Betty's message. 

In Cakes and Ale there is evidently a lack of any substantial relevance to
Thomas and Florence Emily Hardy. Despite indications of a Max Gate setting,
Maugham didn't know them--nor are they recognisably portrayed in the novel. 

Michael Millgate makes a brief reference to this issue in Testamentary
Acts, pp.
175-6.

    With every good wish,

    Rosemarie Morgan

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From: "Patricia M Mann" Patricia.Mann@mail.btinternet.com
Subject: Re: Cakes and Ale
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 16:34:48 -0000
 

    Hi I'm at present re-reading Cakes and Ale as it was  recently commented upon in another Hardy group forum of which I am a  member.  I haven't yet seen any reason to change my original idea that the  novel has only a tenuous link to Thomas Hardy which was what drew me to it in  the first place.  I remember being rather disappointed then, but I shall  keep reading in the hope that I may yet discover something I didn't notice the  first time round.  After all, as Betty pointed out, it is a work of fiction  and I shall therefore endeavour to enjoy it as such. Regards Patricia Mann

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