The Mayor of Casterbridge (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Thomas Hardy (Author), Dale Kramer (Editor), Pamela Dalziel (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: September 9, 2004

Set against the backdrop of peaceful south-west England, where Thomas Hardy spent much of his youth, The Mayor of Casterbridge captures the author's unique genius for depicting the absurdity underlying much of the sorrow and humor in our lives.
Michael Henchard is an out-of-work hay-trusser who gets drunk at a local fair and impulsively sells his wife Susan and baby daughter. Eighteen years later Susan and her daughter seek him out, only to discover that he has become the most prominent man in Casterbridge. Henchard attempts to make amends for his youthful misdeeds but his unchanged impulsiveness clouds his relationships in love as well as his fortunes in business. Although Henchard is fated to be a modern-day tragic hero, unable to survive in the new commercial world, his story is also a journey towards love.
This edition is the only critically established text of the novel, based on a comprehensive study of the manuscript and Hardy's extensive revisions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pamela Dalziel has published numerous articles on Hardy and edited Hardy's An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress and Other Stories (OWC, 1994) and A Pair of Blue Eyes (Penguin, 1998).

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192840711
• ISBN-13: 978-0192840714
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A nineteenth-century page-turner, May 31, 2009

By 

Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Mayor of Casterbridge (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Michael Henchard, a 21-year-old itinerant farmhand, enters a refreshment tent with his wife and baby girl at a country fair. Depressed by his poverty, Henchard gets blind drunk. He'd get along so much better without the burden of a family, he declares to one and all - and he offers his wife for sale to the highest bidder.

Am amiable sailor throws down five guineas, and Susan Henchard, babe in arms, goes off with him.

Amazingly, such things did happen in nineteenth-century rural England. This shocking event is our introduction to Michael Henchard's tempestuous character.

Once sober, Henchard searches high and low for his wife and child, but with no success. He makes a vow in church to abstain from alcohol for the next 21 years, and he keeps that vow.

We encounter Henchard two decades later, now a prosperous corn and wheat merchant and the Mayor of Casterbridge.

Character is fate. Henchard's nature, violent and remorseful, jealous and generous by turns, will give him no rest in this life. We can't help pitying the man, deeply flawed though he is.

The Mayor of Casterbridge is a classic of English literature. It's also a totally gripping story, abounding in reversals, romances and local color. Don't start reading it on a night that you hope to get to bed early!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ok novel, February 24, 2009

By 

Mad Fan "reds fan" (Parkersburg WV USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Mayor of Casterbridge (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This was an ok novel. It has many plots and twists and is a little hard to follow. The cliff notes make the book much easier to follow.