[Hardy-l] Re: Thoughts on 'Tess'

[Rosemarie Morgan]

Ah - Paul --All these nuances that E-Mail generates!

I suddenly realised that "quibbling" is quite a delicious word -- but 
that's by the by. I used it in reference to all this stuff about whether 
the BBC presents a mail coach or not and, at first, I wondered whether it 
really mattered. Initially, I thought it hardly mattered at all  --  to the 
non-Hardyan the coach would surely be just a superior kind of vehicle that, 
in its speed and size, mows down a lowly one that has wandered out of lane 
due to a sleepy driver.

Later, though,  I thought it did matter, in fact-- (my Victorianist bits 
kicked in) for the mail carts were supposed to sound their Post-Horn 
(though why would modern viewers know this?) in country lanes and 
especially in the dark  & at corners where their lamps might not be 
visible,  to avoid just such a collision  - after all they travelled at 
tremendous speed .  My thought then was that Hardy's contemporary readers 
*would have known* all of this/ which would, in turn, have modified their 
sense that Tess was not the only person at fault in this incident which 
would, then, soften the reader's understanding of her sense of guilt -- 
that, for instance, she was being too hard upon herself in taking on full 
responsibility for the death of Prince.

And so my thoughts meandered on  in their usual witless way. Thus I 
concluded with a R.I P just to shut myself up -- but it didn't work -- did it?

Cheers
Rosemarie
>I don't think we're quibbling, Rosemarie--I just couldn't resist the 
>opportunity to go on about a favorite subject!
>
>And I hope the "RIP" is for the conversation and nothing else!
>
>Paul