Wessex Tales (1973)

"The Three Strangers"
Dang, this story is good. I've read it three times, now, I think, and every time is just as good as the last. A late-night celebration in a rural village is perfectly evoked, and then it's upset by a succession of visiting strangers. It could be a ghost story, so perfect is the atmosphere... but it's not. I loathe to say anything else about it, because that would dampen the impact I think. (Well, maybe not if I can love it three times through. Go and read it anyway; I'm sure it's free somewhere on-line.)

"A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four"
This is a little folktale that Hardy recounts about Napoleon, except that apparently he invented it. Nice enough, but it didn't leave much of an impact.

"The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion"
A Wessex woman falls in love with a York Hussar stationed in her village. It's Thomas Hardy, so everything goes horribly wrong. Again, this didn't impact me much.

"The Withered Arm"
Ah, this is more like it. A touch of fantasy drives this story of a jilted lover, a witch, and a new wife. Haunting, you know, and all the good things a bit of the supernatural should do. Did Hardy write more supernatural stuff? I don't really know, but I think he'd be good at it; he's morbid enough in the real world.

"Fellow-townsmen"
This story is like being punched in the face repeatedly by tragedy and miscommunication. As always, Hardy makes you like it. The ending just twists the knife more.

"Interlopers at the Knap"
One of the weaker stories in the volume, though I can't put my finger on why.

"The Distracted Preacher"
I liked this one a lot. If it wasn't for "The Three Strangers," this would be the standout in the book; thankfully, it ends on a high note anyway. It's probably the funniest story here (the poor preacher does not know how to deal with his rum-running lover), though of course nothing can stay good for long in Wessex. Hardy's deft hand with characterization makes the tragedy work. I am always depressed for having read Thomas Hardy, but happy for having been depressed.

I adore Thomas Hardy and he's probably my favourite author - if it is possible to pick just one. Two of the stories in this collection I had read before in another collection, a long time ago.Previously I have read all the novels - some of them twice - but have read much less of Thomas Hardy's shorter fiction. This was a real treat. The story of "The Withered Arm" was my favourite - but each of the stories in this small collection demonstrate what a master story teller Hardy was. His characters are real people - his stories compelling, poignant, often tense and dramatic. This was such a welcome antidote for all the rubbish tv I have been subjecting myself to just recently. It has made me want to re-read all the novels immediately. ( )

The first and best piece, "The Three Strangers," pulls out all the stops: a violent storm on the downs, three mysterious strangers who seek shelter in a shepherd's cabin where a rousing christening party is in progress, and the booming of a cannon to announce the escape of a prisoner nearby. In other stories (e.g., "Fellow Townsmen") the characters seem wooden, with plots turning too much on coincidence. Woven through all, however, are lively descriptions of life in Somerset 50 years or so before Hardy's time: accounts of milking cows all day in a dark dairy ("The Withered Arm"), smuggling tubs of brandy over the cliffs ("The Distracted Preacher"), and preparing for the anticipated invasion of Napoleon ("A Tradition of 1804").