1gwendetenebre
"The Withered Arm" by Thomas Hardy
Discussion begins April 19, 2023.
First published in the January 1888 issue of Blackwood's.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?817013
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Distracted Preacher: and Other Tales
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
Chilling and Killing
The Withered Arm and Other Stories
ONLINE VERSIONS
http://victorian-studies.net/ghost-stories-hardy.html
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsjBpaGTJ5I
MISCELLANY
https://www.hardysociety.org/life/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy
https://www.awellreadwanderer.com/post/surprising-facts-about-thomas-hardy-jude-...
https://porridgemagazine.com/2018/01/14/exploring-the-presentation-of-witchcraft...
https://tinyurl.com/mpvs7t6j
Discussion begins April 19, 2023.
First published in the January 1888 issue of Blackwood's.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?817013
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
The Distracted Preacher: and Other Tales
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
Chilling and Killing
The Withered Arm and Other Stories
ONLINE VERSIONS
http://victorian-studies.net/ghost-stories-hardy.html
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsjBpaGTJ5I
MISCELLANY
https://www.hardysociety.org/life/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy
https://www.awellreadwanderer.com/post/surprising-facts-about-thomas-hardy-jude-...
https://porridgemagazine.com/2018/01/14/exploring-the-presentation-of-witchcraft...
https://tinyurl.com/mpvs7t6j
2RandyStafford
I found this one an interesting story because of two elements.
The first is the question as to whether Rhoda is a witch. People whisper she is, but we never see her cast any spells. Perhaps she is. She does think of Gertrude, initially, as an incubus implying that Lodge would have never taken up with such a woman unless she was somehow supernaturally alluring.
The second is the whole nature of that dream. It seems to be precognitive, a supernatural element that sets the plot in motion.
Hardy did a nice job with Rhoda's character, depicting an outwardly stoic woman with deep passions. Her sudden glee at Gertrude realizing that she may be the object of a curse -- even if not cast by Rhoda -- was a nice touch and realistic. To borrow a line from a Kurosawa movie, "It's interesting when fortunate people suffer."
Hardy also captures a changing England with the fading belief in folk magic and Farmer Lodge's mixed disdain and belief in it.
The first is the question as to whether Rhoda is a witch. People whisper she is, but we never see her cast any spells. Perhaps she is. She does think of Gertrude, initially, as an incubus implying that Lodge would have never taken up with such a woman unless she was somehow supernaturally alluring.
The second is the whole nature of that dream. It seems to be precognitive, a supernatural element that sets the plot in motion.
Hardy did a nice job with Rhoda's character, depicting an outwardly stoic woman with deep passions. Her sudden glee at Gertrude realizing that she may be the object of a curse -- even if not cast by Rhoda -- was a nice touch and realistic. To borrow a line from a Kurosawa movie, "It's interesting when fortunate people suffer."
Hardy also captures a changing England with the fading belief in folk magic and Farmer Lodge's mixed disdain and belief in it.
3papijoe
>2 RandyStafford: I admit to being baffled at first by the apparition coming to her. I suppose her envy of the new bride subconsciously summoned her?
I haven’t revisited Hardy since my undergrad days. Not a bad tale although it dragged on a bit at the end. The tragic ending was pretty much what I would expect from Hardy.
I haven’t revisited Hardy since my undergrad days. Not a bad tale although it dragged on a bit at the end. The tragic ending was pretty much what I would expect from Hardy.
4housefulofpaper
>4 housefulofpaper:
Robert Gitting's introduction to the Folio Society edition of Wessex Tales notes that the rick burning of the tale's climax dates it to the "Swing riots" of 1830.
I didn't think the story dragged, in the sense that the mechanics of the storytelling were at fault, so much as I could feel the familar depressing of the spirits that reading Hardy always brings on.
I don't know how much England was changing and how much the ambiguous is-it-or-isn't-it-real nature of the supernatural is a constant in human nature. Compare Nigel Kneale's 1975 TV play "Murrain": not much seems to have changed in over a century (a copy has been uploaded to YouTube since 2016, so I imagine it'll be there for a while yet).
Robert Gitting's introduction to the Folio Society edition of Wessex Tales notes that the rick burning of the tale's climax dates it to the "Swing riots" of 1830.
I didn't think the story dragged, in the sense that the mechanics of the storytelling were at fault, so much as I could feel the familar depressing of the spirits that reading Hardy always brings on.
I don't know how much England was changing and how much the ambiguous is-it-or-isn't-it-real nature of the supernatural is a constant in human nature. Compare Nigel Kneale's 1975 TV play "Murrain": not much seems to have changed in over a century (a copy has been uploaded to YouTube since 2016, so I imagine it'll be there for a while yet).
5RandyStafford
>4 housefulofpaper: Good to know about putting a putting a specific time on the setting.
6papijoe
>4 housefulofpaper: Good to know I’m not the only one who finds Hardy to be a real downer despite his obvious talents as a writer.
