Analyzing the Works of Thomas Hardy

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Snell (1998) says that the term 'regional novel' refers to "fiction that is set in a recognizable region, and which describes features distinguishing the life, social relations, customs, languages, dialect, or other aspects of the culture of that area and its people. Fiction with a strong sense of local geography, topography or landscape is also covered by this definition" (1998:1). Novels belonging to such a genre, Duncan (2002) claims, are thus distinctive and familiar. distinctive in the sense that each is differentiated from the metropolis or from other regions within the nation, and familiar in the sense that they all have one thing in common 'the imagined community' of Anderson (Anderson, 1991). Duncan (2002) maintains that provincial or regional fiction was established and flourished in the nineteenth century. He argues that the eighteenth century witnessed some attempts at the regional novel, notably Smollett's (1818) The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker written in 1771; however, the real introduction to the regional novel was Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent in 1800. Afterwards, regional fiction was developed by Scott, Galt, and their Irish and Scottish contemporaries. This view is supported by Bellamy’s (1998) argument “the origins of the regional novel have conventionally been traced back to Maria Edgeworth and Walter Scott” (1998: 54). The novels about Ireland or Scotland, Duncan (2002) suggests, made English writers think about the varieties of community within England and in the Victorian period, after which we see the appearance of English regional novel. He points out that industrialization and modernization processes led to the disappearance of many rural and pastoral values; the simple pastoral life was replaced ... ... middle of paper ... ...e reduced to just classifying him as a regional writer (Seymour-Smith, 1994). Williams (1974) supports this argument indicating “This argument gives a one-sided picture of Hardy’s creativity and ignores an important part of the Victorian social and cultural context in which Hardy had lived and worked for some time—that of urban society” (1974: 5-6). One major problem with regional discussions of Hardy is that their vision and perception of Hardy’s work is very narrow in the sense that (1) they are almost restricted to what Hardy calls ‘novels of character and environment’, and (2) they ignore other important thematic concepts within the texts. Equally important, such reviews are always based on some biographical elements of Hardy himself. The involvement of biographical considerations however in thematic reviews makes any discussion subjective and not empirical.

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