[Hardy-l] Re: Hardy-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 12

[Jackie Wilkinson]

What I do find fascinating is that historians, for example Muir, and those
writing on ritual such as Hutton, defer to Hardy as an accurate source of
information, referring to his 'precise and careful accounts which sought to
establish their authenticity through unprecedentedly detailed descriptions
of the physical and social fabric of rural England.' This is a somewhat
unusual comment on Hardy's depth of knowledge in this field in that those
dealing only in facts accept the insight of an author of fiction.
Jacky