I was afraid of Hardy but. . .
Posted by Kay on September 05, 1998 at 10:05:32:
In response to Maybe an answer?, written by Heather J on September 04, 1998 at 16:34:58
I've seen "Mayor of Casterbridge," "Tess" (the Nastassia Kinski version) and Hallmark's "Return of the Native" and was put off by the unremitting gloominess. But then I watched last springs "Far from the Madding Crowd," the Hardy story with the happy ending. I felt compelled to read the book and really fell in love with his style. So even though I know "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is a gloomy book, I looked forward to reading it.
I love the freshness of Hardy's metaphors (a Phase 3 example: He describes the heat as "Thermidorean" and "Ethiopic."), and his beautiful descriptions of the Wessex countryside make it come alive for me.
He presents Tess (and women in general) very sympathetically. Some male authors of the 19th century don't seem to know how to handle women.
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