[hardy-l] Hardy's intent

[Dan Childers]

Paul,

I think that you would have a stronger argument if Hardy's novels didn't become more increasingly iconoclastic and and even more abrasive in response to the moral criticism his earlier novels received.  When I was reading his autobiography and his collected letters, it always struck me how much he seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve in responding to the criticism of his works.  Obviously with some writers there is a clear divide between their authorial voice and their actual one, but, for better or worse, Hardy never struck me as that type of author.  

Dan Childers
Instructor
University of Southern Mississippi


From: Paul Yuellig 
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 1:15 PM
To: hardy-l at coyote.csusm.edu 
Subject: [hardy-l] Hardy's intent


      I don't know what motivates a novelist to pick up the pen and begin a work of fiction but, I suspect that it is similar to that which prompts the songwriter to compose a song or an artist to paint...inspiration. To create is to enjoy seeing the gift that you are given - creative spark come into tangible form. My thought is that Hardy got his ideas and he then, developed them into a story that he was able to unfold out of his own mind. Whether or not he had intended to teach lessons on life, make comments on Victorian society, as it existed in England during the early and rapid growth of the "industrial revolution" or send messages of any kind at the outset of his projects...I doubt that. Things like social comments came through the telling of his stories, they weren't what caused him to choose his novels and then write them. 

      What is in Hardy's novels is what he felt and thought about, in terms of the daily life he led and how that all affected his thought processes. What interests you or what you, yourself are feeling and experiencing will then, usually be in your creations. That can be an extremely diverse array of things. Look at what most songs contain...love found...love lost...love never found. Hardy seemed to have love at the center of his novels. Tess fell in love with Angel and via versa...Bathsheba fell for Troy...Oak and Boldwood fell for her.. All of these characters went through the gauntlet of high and low emotional feelings over those with whom they loved. Many were the victims of that love and lives were lost in the process of who would end up with whom.
      My point is that Hardy wrote these books to tell the story of those who came into his imagination and that what happened in these stories were events in the everyday lives of the characters themselves. It doesn't seem likely that he was putting forth treatises on society or the meaning of life. Those were by-products of the stories, not the original intent. We are supposed to enjoy reading them and, in the process learn a bit of what Hardy thought about the world in which he lived. 




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