[hardy-l] Hardy's intent II

[Niemeyer, Paul J.]

Namesake, I don't think you'll find anyone on this list who doesn't also believe Hardy was a great storyteller.  As to whether Hardy dreamed up Tess first to make a social comment or just because he wanted to write about a pretty country girl. . .who knows?  To me, one of the marvels not just of Hardy but of Victorian literature in general is how the writers smoothly blended social commentary with great storytelling--or in the case of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, melded social criticism with great poetry.  Read TESS or other Hardy novels as you like--as love stories, tragedies, social critiques--any way, you can't go wrong!
 
Regards,
 
Paul Niemeyer

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From: Paul Yuellig 
Subject: Hardy's intent II

I see Hardy as a great story teller first with social commentary as secondary. If that is not true then, I have it backwards. 

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