The Life of Thomas Hardy 1840–1928: Compiled Largely From Contemporary Notes, Letters, Diaries, And Biographical Memoranda, As Well As From Oral Information In Conversations Extending Over Many Years

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Birth And Boyhood....Pages 3-26
Student And Architect....Pages 27-34
Work In London....Pages 35-55
Between Architecture And Literature....Pages 56-66
St. Juliot....Pages 67-79
Front Matter....Pages 81-81
First Three Books....Pages 83-94
‘Far from the Madding Crowd’, Marriage, and Another Novel....Pages 95-109
Holland, the Rhine, and Sturminster Newton....Pages 110-119
Life And Literature In A London Suburb....Pages 120-130
London, Normandy, And Cambridge....Pages 131-141
Front Matter....Pages 143-143
A Difficult Period; And A Change....Pages 145-151
Wimborne and ‘Two on a Tower’....Pages 152-160
The County Town....Pages 161-174
Max Gate and ‘the Woodlanders’....Pages 175-186
Italian Journey....Pages 187-196
Front Matter....Pages 197-197
London Friends, Paris, and Short Stories....Pages 199-212
More Town Friends And A Novel’S Dismemberment....Pages 213-223
Observations on People and Things....Pages 224-231
The Novel ‘Tess’ Restored and Published....Pages 232-240
Front Matter....Pages 241-241
The Reception of the Book....Pages 243-251
Front Matter....Pages 241-241
Visits And Intermittent Writing....Pages 252-261
Another Novel Finished, Mutilated, and Restored....Pages 262-275
More on ‘Jude’, and Issue of ‘The Well-Beloved’....Pages 276-287
Front Matter....Pages 289-289
Collecting Old Poems and Making New....Pages 291-298
‘Wessex Poems’ and Others....Pages 299-307
‘Poems of the Past and the Present’, and Others....Pages 308-318
Part First of ‘the Dynasts’....Pages 319-328
The Remainder of ‘the Dynasts’....Pages 329-337
Front Matter....Pages 339-339
Deaths of Swinburne and Meredith....Pages 341-348
The Freedom of the Borough....Pages 349-354
Bereavement....Pages 355-360
Revisitings, Second Marriage, and War Writings....Pages 361-368
War Efforts, Deaths of Relatives, and ‘Moments of Vision’....Pages 369-379
Front Matter....Pages 381-381
Reflections on Poetry....Pages 383-386
Poetical Questions: And Mellstock Club-Room....Pages 387-396
‘The Dynasts’ at Oxford; Hon. Degree; a Deputation; a Controversy....Pages 397-411
Some Farewells....Pages 412-430
The Last Scene....Pages 431-446
Back Matter....Pages 447-470