Far from the Madding Crowd (Signet Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Thomas Hardy (Author), Suzanne Keen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 1, 2002

A young man falls victim to his own obsession with an amorous farm girl in this classic novel of fate and unrequited love. Published anonymously and first attributed, erroneously, to George Eliot, this Signet Classic version is set from Hardy's revised final draft-the authoritative Wessex edition of 1912.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school. At sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect, and for many years, architecture was his profession; in his spare time, he pursued his first and last literary love, poetry. Finally convinced that he could earn his living as an author, he retired from architecture, married, and devoted himself to writing. An extremely productive novelist, Hardy published an important book every year or two. In 1896, disturbed by the public outcry over the unconventional subjects of his two greatest novels—Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure—he announced that he was giving up fiction and afterward produced only poetry. In later years, he received many honors. He died on January 11, 1928, and was buried in Poet’s Corner, in Westminster Abbey. It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as his most memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, decisive delineation of character, and profound presentation of tragedy.

Suzanne Keen, Professor of English at Washington and Lee University, is the author of two books on English fiction, Romances of the Archive in Contemporary British Fiction  (Toronto, 2001) and Victorian Renovations of the Novel: Narrative Annexes and the Boundaries of Representation (Cambridge, 1998).  A recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her academic work, she also reviews books for Commonweal magazine and serves as a vice president of the Thomas Hardy Association.

 

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Signet Classics; Reprint edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451528565
• ISBN-13: 978-0451528568
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Since 'tis as 'tis . . . I feel my thanks accordingly. January 25, 2003

By J Scott Morrison HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Over the years I've read most of Hardy's novels and decided recently to re-read the great Wessex novels in the order in which they were written. This is the first of them and Hardy's first 'mature' novel.

In breathtakingly evocative language Hardy writes a paean to times he knew were changing. He is writing at a period when the old country ways are at war with the new. Bathsheba Everdene is, in her way, one of the 'new' people. And Sergeant Troy, out of harmony with the village of his birth and 'a man to whom memories were an encumbrance', is too. So one would think they were meant for each other. Hardy shows us, though, that there is something about the old ways that is worth saving; this is personified by Gabriel Oak, who is staunch like his name. His steadfastness symbolizes the old ways, the ways in which loyalty, integrity, modest ambitions and decency are lasting values. One is led to think, perhaps, in the middle of the book that the new ways will be a path out of the seemingly simple and ineffective country ways, where people live their lives by the seasons, know their rôle in their society, get along civilly with each other, all of which might seem to lead to a certain lack of excitement. When Gabriel characterizes his proposal of marriage to Bathsheba by saying '. . . at home by the fire, whenever you look up, there I shall be--and whenever I look up, there will be you', this is taken by Bathsheba as a recipe for boredom. She comes to understand with time that this sort of domestic harmony is a haven from the harms of the world.

And so, while writing about changing times, Hardy also writes a prose poem about married love. He was 33 when he wrote it and ironically it was the success of this book that gave him the means to finally get married to his dear fiancée, Emma Gifford. And it launched him on a series that was to become a dominant part of his life's work.

The book ends with a neat summation, quoted in the title of this review, by one of the farm laborers, Joseph Poorgrass, who proposes a perhaps unromantic means of accepting our time among our fellow-men: '. . . since 'tis as 'tis, why, it might have been worse, and I feel my thanks accordingly.'

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Forces of Nature July 9, 2006

By KH1 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, the first of Thomas Hardy's 'Wessex' novels, tells the story of a small troupe of farmers and their workers in a sheep-farming community in the fictitious county of 'Wessex'.

Gabriel Oak has been a shepherd since his teenage years, as his father was before him, but he's moved up and purchased, on credit, his own farm. The work is hard, but he is confident that he will succeed, and takes pride in being his own man. Then one day, a new woman arrives in town. Bathsheeba Everdene is beautiful, headstrong, intelligent, but incurably vain; Farmer Oak falls in love with her immediately. A few months later, he proposes, and is utterly rejected. Bathsheeba moves on to care for her dying uncle, and take over his farm. Gabriel continues farming - until tragedy strikes.

He and Bathsheeba will cross paths again, this time not as lovers, but as mistress and servant. Bathsheeba's beauty, vanity and impetuousness leave a trail of carnage in her wake, and Gabriel can only watch on as lives are destroyed, farms are ruined, and his own heart is crushed repeatedly.

Hardy is famous for his fatalism, and this is displayed no more than in the character of Bathsheba Everdene. She is not an evil person, as the above summary would suggest - but her stunning beauty and fierce intelligence combine with her vanity and impulsivity to create something like a force of nature, and though she means only good she seems to be able to do nothing but wrong by those who care for her. She has no more control over her nature than she does over the weather. One of the most interesting aspects of this character is that her vices - vanity, impulsivity, which Hardy attributes to her being young and beautiful - lead to the downfall of others, but she is continuously saved from downfall by her own intelligence and inner personal strength.

REal tragedy finally does strike Bathsheba, but rather than let it destroy her as retribution for her wicked ways, she grows from it. We may not be able to escape the hardship of life, Hardy seems to be saying, but we can grow and prosper by learning from it.

This was a fantastically entertaining book. The only warning that I could give with it is that it is slow-moving. The action comes in fits and spurts, and Hardy has a penchant for elaborate descriptions of the countryside, for farmhouses, churches and festivals. They are beautifully written, but take time to digest fully. Highly recommended.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Hardy Read? It Exists July 13, 2001

By John VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I've always condidered myself to be sort of an optimist; so it is really odd that I've always really loved Thomas Hardy's books. I count Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure among my very favorites, and whether or not it is my favorite, I think that The Mayor of Casterbridge is marvelously written. Still though, reading all of that fatalism and cynicism can be a little much. It was really nice to pick up this novel and not read so many grim scenes.

Far From the Madding Crowd is a pretty simple love story driven by the characters. First, there is Bathsheba Everdeen. She's vain, naive, and she makes the stupidest decisions possible. Yet, you still like her. Then there are the three guys who all want her: Troy who's like the bad guy straight out of a Raphael Sabatini novel, Boldwood who's an old lunatic farmer, and Gabriel Oak who is a simple farmer and is basically perfect. The reader sees what should happen in the first chapter, and it takes Bathsheeba the whole book to see it. The characters really make the book. The reader really has strong feelings about them, and Hardy puts them in situations where you just don't know what they're going to do. The atmosphere that Hardy creates is (as is in all of Hardy's novel) amazing and totally original. I don't think any other author (except Wallace Stegner in America) has ever evoked a sense of place as well as Hardy does. Overall, Far from the Madding Crowd is a great novel. I probably don't like it quite as well as some of his others, but I still do think it deserved five stars.