H05051 JUNE, 2005 NOTES AND QUERIES 6/1/05 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES ____________________________________________________________________________
TESS QUERY
HARDY'S BIRTHDAY
HARDY, NOVELIST OR POET?
*THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE* "PONY" WANTED
GERBER-DAVIS BIBLIOGRAPHY UPDATE
*WESTMINSTER REVIEW* QUESTION
SKETCHES OF COTTAGES/THANKS
HARDY'S USE OF "HODIERNAL"
LOCATING HARDY'S WEDDING CHURCH
HARDY IN TLS ARTICLE
NEW ON TTHA'S CHECKLIST
MORE HARDY RELATED ITEMS: *THE WOODLANDERS* ON DVD
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From: littleone1884@hotmail.com
Subject: A pure woman, a real story?
Date: June 1, 2005 3:55:18 AM PDT
Hello,
While studying Tess of the D'Urbervilles, I was told that there is a school of thought that says the story is based on something Hardy actually witnessed, I was wondering if anyone could comment on the veracity of this?
Many thanks,
Jane McCallion
littleone1884@hotmail.com
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From: rnemesva@stfx.ca
Subject: RE: A pure woman, a real story?
Date: June 1, 2005 7:58:15 AM PDT
Jane,
I think you need to be a little more precise with your question.
Perhaps the most famous biographical element in *Tess* is Hardy's
witnessing of the hanging of Martha Brown, for the murder of her
husband, on August 9, 1856. But I'm not sure how the story could be
said to be "based on" this, since Tess' execution occurs only in the
last chapter, and is not in fact presented at all, except through the
metonymy of the black flag. And of course the narrative of "the maid
who went to the merry green wood and came back a changed state" (OUP
*Tess,* p. 97) is part of a ballad tradition which is scarcely original
to Hardy, as the novel itself specifically recognizes. I'm also
unfamiliar in general with the "school of thought" you mention, so
perhaps if you could elaborate a bit more it would be easier to provide
a specific response.
All the best.
Richard Nemesvari
Associate Professor
Department of English
St. Francis Xavier University
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From: hardycor@owl.csusm.edu
Subject: Not Forgotten
Date: June 2, 2005 5:23:03 AM PDT
For which of us could hope
To show in life that world-awakening scope
Granted the few whose memory none lets die,
But all men magnify?
(From "The-To-Be-Forgotten")
Thomas Hardy, you are one of those few who will never be forgotten. Happy
165th Birthday!
Best Wishes,
Betty
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Birthdays
Date: June 2, 2005 6:43:05 AM PDT
Betty, you are the best --you never forget!
Here's a snippet on the subject of birthdays which suggests that TH, with characteristic humility, didn't readily perceive himself to be one who "all men magnify." In January 1898 Gosse wrote inviting him to sign his name to a tribute to George Meredith on his seventieth birthday. Hardy replied that it was a generous idea but that "Swinburne ought to be in it, or perhaps Meredith would not value it.".
(Letters, v2.184)
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From: meryfac@hotmail.com
Subject: Poet or Novelist?
Date: June 2, 2005 9:57:21 AM PDT
Dear All,
Why did Hardy decide to be a poet rather than a novelist, in your opinion?
Now I have acquired some knowledge about him, but I don't understand why he
prefered poetry to novel...he had reached the success with his novels, but
he was hardly criticized as a poet.
Thanks...
Maria
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From: hardycor@owl.csusm.edu
Subject: Re: Poet or Novelist?
Date: June 2, 2005 10:26:50 AM PDT
Maria, Hardy always claimed that he preferred writing poetry, which he
regarded as a purer art form than the novel. As a young man he could not
make enough money to live on by writing poetry, so he wrote
novels--fortunately for us--until he became financially independent, and
could afford to indulge his preference. The bitter critical reception of
his last novel *Jude the Obscure* as well as the drudgery of revising his
novels which had first appeared in serial form, so that they could be
published as books, were sufficient incentives for him to return to his
first love, the writing of poetry.
Best Wishes,
Betty
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From: soocil@yahoo.com
Subject: "The Mayor of Casterbridge"! Pleease
Date: June 4, 2005 7:23:09 AM PDT
If there any one who has any kind of simplified versions, extracts regarding "The Mayor of Casterbridge"! Pleease help me for the translation.
Sushil K.C.
Rastriya Banijya BAnk
PO Box 8368
Kathmandu, Nepal
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: "The Mayor of Casterbridge"! Pleease
Date: June 4, 2005 8:41:23 AM PDT
If you have access to TTHA's Checklist you'll find everything that's available on MC listed there. Also audio-tapes. There are some beautiful recordings of MC.
Good Luck!
Rosemarie
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: The Gerber/Davis Bibliography
Date: June 5, 2005 10:30:24 AM PDT
Dear Forum Members,
I've just had occasion (again) to consult TTHA's on-line Gerber/Davis bibliographies of writings about Thomas Hardy from 1871 to 1969, and, again, I've been impressed by what I've been able to find there. It's now up-to-date to 1959, and includes a "large print" option--which, fortunately, I don't yet need. The final part--1960-1969--I'm told will shortly be available--so, only for my particular inquiry, I had to resort to the last published volume--
when and if you can find it.
But what prompts my posting is this: For more than once, I've found It takes only one research inquiry to realize the enormous potential of this TTHA research resource. It's possible, for example, to use the computer "find" function to seek out terms that may--or may not--appear in the original Gerber/Davis index. But for someone seriously pursuing research on Hardy--and for anyone with an interest in what has been written about him--I've found this fully annotated bibliography to be well worth consulting.
And it's available free to members of TTHA. Just point your browser to
http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/membership.htm
for information about how to join.
All the best!
Bob
Robert Schweik
University Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
State University of New York
Fredonia, NY 14063
schweik@fredonia.edu
schweikr@localnet.com
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From: meryfac@hotmail.com
Subject: Westminster Review
Date: June 8, 2005 9:30:17 AM PDT
Dear All,
Could you tell me where I can find the article, written in the Westminster
Review 1883, about the career of Thomas Hardy? I mean that one that
compares Hardy with George Eliot and Goethe...
Thanks in advance,
Best Regards,
Maria
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From: wwmorgan@ilstu.edu
Subject: Re: Westminster Review
Date: June 8, 2005 10:37:33 AM PDT
I wonder if you mean this anonymous piece, later attributed to Havelock Ellis?
"Thomas Hardy's Novels," Westminster Review, LXIII (April 1883), 334-64.
If this is the one you're looking for, it has been reprinted in Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage, ed. R. G. Cox (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970): 103-132.
Good luck.
best,
Bill
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: Re: Westminster Review
Date: June 8, 2005 10:46:28 AM PDT
Dear Maria,
To find the article itself, you can check the OCLC Union Serials list, or have
your librarian do that. It shows that (among many others) copies of the
1883 Westminster Review are held by such libraries as that of Illinois
State University, Normal, IL; Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; and
the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. Most university libraries can
arrange a Xerox copy of the review to be sent to you; no many public
libraries provide an equivalent service.
The article you're looking for is probably that by Havelock Ellis titled
"Thomas Hardy's Novels" published in the Westminster Review in
volume 63 (April 1883) pp. 334-64.
If you're interested, also, in other early reviews commenting on Hardy's
relationship to George Eliot, you might want to see an article by
Paul C. Kegan titled "The Rustics of George Eliot and Thomas Hardy,"
Merry England, May, 1883, p. 255.
Brief summaries of both of those articles are provided in the Gerber/Davis
bibliographies of writings on Thomas Hardy in the TTHA "Members Research
Resources" pages available to TTHA members.
Bob Schweik
Robert Schweik
University Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
State University of New York
Fredonia, NY 14063
schweik@fredonia.edu
schweikr@localnet.com
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From: bestvictoria@hotmail.com
Subject: Hardy's sketches of cottages
Date: June 8, 2005 3:51:20 PM PDT
Dear TTHA List,
I would like to express (very belatedly, I apologise) my thanks to those who replied to my troublesome query on Hardy's sketches. My reader is now happily in possession of the material he required, and more hints which he hopes to follow up... invaluable help!
Many thanks,
Victoria Weavell,
University of Bristol, England
South Western Regional Library System.
bestvictoria@hotmail.com
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Hodiernal
Date: June 14, 2005 11:48:38 AM PDT
I've just (belatedly) opened my Word-A-Day file for June 7 and found this:
______________
hodiernal (ho-di-ER-nuhl) adjective
Of or pertaining to the present day.
[From Latin hodiernus, from hodie (today).]
"Our vernal
Brightness keeping,
Time outleaping;
Passed the hodiernal!"
Thomas Hardy; To Outer Nature; 19th c.
This week's theme: words from the 2005 Spelling Bee
Cheers,
Rosemarie
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From: wesspix@btinternet.com
Subject: Hardy's wedding
Date: June 14, 2005 3:52:32 PM PDT
I was wondering if anyone could give me a bit of advice.
I've just spent a day down in London, and found the Westbourne Park Villas address where Thomas Hardy lived for several years (lucky he didn't live the other side of the road, which is now the Great Western Railway). But I was trying to find the church where he was married. I believed it was in Chippenham Road, just to the north, but St Peter's there is a modern church. Was I aiming for the wrong place?
all the best
Gary Alderson
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From: 2727@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: Re: Hardy's wedding
Date: June 14, 2005 4:21:52 PM PDT
Gary,
The present St. Peters Church was built after the first St. Peters church was razed in 1975. There is a stone in the entrance of the church which is the foundation stone of the new edifice. If you would like a copy of my picture of the foundation stone, email me at the address below. The stone recounts the history of the prior church but makes no mention of Hardy. The St. Peters in which Hardy and Emma were married was built in 1870. I have been looking for a photograph of the former St. Peters for three years with no luck to date.
The present vicar told me that the old St. Peters was a much larger edifice than the present one.
Michael Stoddard
2727@tampabay.rr.com
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From: rnemesva@stfx.ca
Subject: Hardy, Larkin, and Pym in TLS
Date: June 24, 2005 5:39:56 AM PDT
I thought the List might be interested in knowing that there is a substantial, and I think strong, article in the June 3, 2005 *Times Literary Supplement* (No. 5331) involving Hardy. Entitled "Larkin and the Doomsters: Walking 'down life's sunless hill' with Hardy and Barbara Pym," it was written by Barbara Everett and appears in the "Commentary" section on pages 11-13.
Richard Nemesvari
Department of English
St. Francis Xavier University
rnemesva@stfx.ca
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: New on TTHA's Checklist
Date: June 24, 2005 1:35:58 PM PDT
Most Forum members will know that TTHA's Checklist is intended--among other things--to record as soon as possible publications related to Thomas Hardy appearing in print, on tape or videotape, and on major sources on the Web. It's a source both for scholarsin need of the most up-to-date information on publications related to Hardy, but, also, for anyone interested in what goes on in Hardy scholarship. And, of course, it includes information on
forthcoming publications.
Usually, about August, I announce on the Forum a citation of a first publication for the following year--in this case, 2006--just by way of conveying how quickly TTHA's Checklist provides information on new Hardy publications. These vary, of course, greatly in quality. Here's the first that the Checklist provides for 2006--far ahead of the usual August date:
Malane, Richael Ann. Sex in the Mind: The Gendered Brain in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Mental Sciences. Studies in Nineteenth-century British Literature series. New York: Peter Lang, 2006.
[The publisher's statement of contents includes the following: " The tragedy of gendered mental realms in the novels of Thomas Hardy."]
Just a harbinger of many more things to come.
Bob
Robert Schweik
University Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
State University of New York
Fredonia, NY 14063
schweik@fredonia.edu
schweikr@localnet.com
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From: segr@segr-music.net
Subject: New Hardy-Related Items Here Too
Date: June 24, 2005 3:12:47 PM PDT
AND accessible at no (extra) cost
to all web crawlers including Hardy punters.
For further novelties
you are invited to
listen to new recordings
(all new settings)
of the words written by
TH
himself.
All on offer at the expanding universe of
www.segr-music.net
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: New on TTHA's Checklist
Date: June 24, 2005 6:25:43 PM PDT
Thank you Bob-- this is splendid~ you've mustered an extraordinary team of sleuths! I don't think I could get my annual reviews in on in time for the major periodicals if it were not for your Checklist and as for being in the van! No Ph.D candidate can now complain if their supervisor isn't quite up to speed! They can overtake her/him at a finger's touch with Bob's TTHA Checklist!
Cheers and gratitudes
Rosemarie
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From: NHardyboy@aol.com
Subject: Woodlanders on DVD
Date: June 28, 2005 12:41:02 PM PDT
I thought I'd drop this note to let everyone know that Phil Agland's 1998 film version of _The Woodlanders_ is being released today in DVD format. To my knowledge, this is the first appearance of the film in any form in the United States, so those interested in cinematic representations of Hardy should put this on their "must-rent" list. Or not. Personally, I find Agland's film to be one of the most lamentable of the attempts to bring Hardy to the screen. . .but perhaps that's a subject for another discussion?
Regards,
Paul Niemeyer
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From: schweikr@localnet.com
Subject: Re: Woodlanders on DVD
Date: June 28, 2005 1:21:58 PM PDT
Paul,
Just a question and a comment.
First, I have the following entry in TTHA's Checklist for the year 2005:
Agland, Phil. The Woodlanders. Burbank, CA: Miramax Home Entertainment, 2005.
[Videodisc (4 3/4 in.) DVD, region 1, widescreen presentation, Dolby Digital. A videodisk of the 1997 motion picture.]
Is this the work to which you're referring? If not, could you give me bibliographic details?
Second, for anyone interested in a critical analysis of that film, look for the appearance of
Wright, Terry, editor. Thomas Hardy on Screen. Cambridge Companion Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
This is listed in the Cambridge University Press electronic catalogue as to be published in December 2005. One of the essays in that book is Dale Kramer's 'The Woodlanders: The Conflicting Visions of Phil Agland and Thomas Hardy.' From the title I suspect that it will confirm Paul's judgment of the film.
Bob Schweik
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From: NHardyboy@aol.com
Subject: Woodlanders on DVD
Date: June 28, 2005 12:41:02 PM PDT
Bob,
It couldn't be any other film, though my sources indicate it was released on 8 February 1998, and not 1997. As for written commentary on the movie, there is one other book that mentions it, but I'm darned if I can remember the title. . .
Yours shamelessly,
Paul
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