Thomas Hardy, Femininity and Dissent: Reassessing the 'Minor' Novels

by J. Thomas

Overview

Drawing on aspects of Foucauldian feminist theory Thomas Hardy, Femininity and Dissent offers original and detailed readings of six critically under-valued novels: Desperate Remedies, A Pair of Blue Eyes, The Hand of Ethelberta, A Laodicean, Two on a Tower and The Well-Beloved , demonstrating Hardy's peculiarly modern appreciation of how individuals negotiate the forces which shape their sense of self. Tracing his interest in the evolutionary debate and the woman question this book reveals a new politically engaged rather than a grimly pessimistic Hardy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333567012
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	11/11/1998
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jane Thomas is Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Hull.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Hardy and 'The Thinking World' The Question of 'Woman' Desperate Remedies (1871): The 'Martyrdom of Self-Conceit' A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873): Policing the Self The Hand of Ethelberta (1876): The Limits of Resistance A Laodicean (1886): Power and Agency Two on a Tower (1886): 'The Artificial System of Things' The Well-Beloved (1897): Galatea's Revenge Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Thomas's analysis makes clear that Hardy's minor novels offer readers the same passionate, argumentative spirit that animates the major ones... Victorian Studies

From the Publisher