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Loading... Thomas Hardyby Claire Tomalin
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Claire Tomalin again does a fine job of biographic research telling us all about 'Tom and Em' .She describes two unhappy marriage partners. (  )siri51 | Jun 23, 2009 |   Another masterly biography from Claire Tomalin, a much more engaging read than her Pepys one. I knew next to nothing about Hardy but Tomalin's book led me into his life and world through her excellent signature style of warm, compassionate writing with particular insights into the emotionally stunted lives of Emma and Florence, his two wives. Hugely recommended. Chris_V | Sep 12, 2008 | As is usual with Claire Tomalin biographies this is a wonderful evocation of a life. She deals with Hardy's complexity both as a man and a writer without ever being judgemental. It is hard to reconcile the man who wrote to Rider Haggard, 'sympathy with you both in your bereavement. Though, to be candid, I think the death of a child is never to be regretted, when one reflects on what he has escaped.' with the man who wrote such wonderful poetry in mourning of his first wife. Emma Hardy is a fascinating character in her own right and one who it seems has been unfairly demonised throughout the years, Tomalin writes that 'she had many faults, but her courage was unflinching and she remained stoic.' I love how Tomalin has used his great poetry throughout her text and I shall be searching out my collection of Hardy's poetry for a reread. I (  )riverwillow | Dec 30, 2007 | Becaus of the great satisfaction I derived from reading Claire Tomalin's biography of Pepys and despite the fact that I have read at least three other biographies of Hardy, when I heard of this work I wanted to read it. It is masterfully done, and reads very easily. Hardy's life is amazingly interesting, and one gets the idea that Tomalin has recorded it with good insight. This work pays more attention to his poetry than some others, and I was fortunate to have a volume of all his poems at hand as I read, so I could read any poem mentioned if it seemed I should. And I have decided I will read at least one Hardy novel I have not read; I believe A Pair of Blue Eyes, published in 1873. (  )Schmerguls | Dec 25, 2007 | This provides a very good overview of Hardy's life. I very much appreciate the focus on Hardy's poems of 1912-13 about his wife Emma. These are amazing poems. This book is very workmanly about describing what happens in his life. I liked the focus on the poetry, quoting poems that fit into that point in Hardy's life. What disappointed me: any real insight into his novels in particular, or into the form and accomplishment of his poetry. Probably too much to hope for from this kind of biographer. She is very good at stringing togehter the events of his life. And I appreciate that she has pulled out the poems (in a separate edition) that focus on the string of events that is his life. That is useful, because he wrote so very many poems. But I was disappointed that I learned so little about Hardy, the writer. Very appreciative that I know more about Hardy, the man. idiotgirl | Mar 10, 2007 | 0.060 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0670915122, Hardcover)Whitbread Award winner Claire Tomalin's seminal biography of the enigmatic novelist and poet Thomas Hardy.Today Thomas Hardy is best known for creating the great Wessex landscape as the backdrop to his rural stories, starting with Far from the Madding Crowd, and making them classics. But his true legacy is that of a progressive thinker. When he published Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure late in his career, Hardy explored a very different world than that of his rural tales, one in which the plight of lower classes and women take center stage while the higher classes are damned. Ironically, though, Hardy remained cloaked in the arms of this very upper class during the publication of these books, acting at all times in complete convention with the rules of society. Was he using his books to express himself in a way he felt unable to do in the company he kept, or did he know sensationalism would sell? Award-winning author Claire Tomalin expertly reconstructs the life that led Hardy to maintain conventionality and write revolution. Born in Dorset in 1840, Hardy came of age in rather meager circumstances. At sixteen, he left home for London and slowly worked his way through many rejections to become a published writer. Despite his mother's admonitions to never marry, he wed Emma Lavinia Gifford in 1874 and, even though he fell easily in love, stayed true to her till her death in 1912. He frequently toured London society, but few felt they knew the true Hardy, and it is this very core of self that Tomalin elegantly brings us to know so completely. Hardy's work consistently challenged sexual and religious conventions in a way that few other books of his time did. Though his personal modesty and kindness allowed some to underestimate him or even to pity him, they did not prevent him from taking on the central themes of human experience-time, memory, loss, love, fear, grief, anger, uncertainty, death. And it was exactly his quiet life, full of the small, personal dramas of family quarrels, rivalries, and at times, despair, that infuses his works with the rich detail that sets them apart as masterpieces. In this engrossing biography, Tomalin skillfully identifies the inner demons and the outer mores that drove Hardy and presents a rich and complex portrait of one of the greatest figures in English literature. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:01 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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