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The Return of the Native
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The Return of the Native Paperback - 1999

by Thomas Hardy; Tony Slade (Editor)


Summary

‘You are ambitious, Eustacia – no not exactly ambitious, luxurious. I ought to be of the same vein, to make you happy, I suppose’

Tempestuous Eustacia Vye passes her days dreaming of passionate love and the escape it may bring from the small community of Egdon Heath.  Hearing that Clym Yeobright is to return from Paris, she sets her heart on marrying him, believing that through him she can leave rural life and find fulfilment elsewhere. But she is to be disappointed, for Clym has dreams of his own, and they have little in common with Eustacia’s. Their unhappy marriage causes havoc in the lives of those close to them, in particular Damon Wildeve, Eustacia’s former lover, Clym’s mother and his cousin Thomasin. The Return of the Native illustrates the tragic potential of romantic illusion and how its protagonists fail to recognize their opportunities to control their own destinies.

Penny Boumelha’s introduction examines the classical and mythological references and the interplay of class and sexuality in the novel. This edition, essentially Hardy’s original book version of the novel, also includes notes, a glossary, chronology and bibliography.

From the publisher

Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school. At sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect, and for many years, architecture was his profession; in his spare time, he pursued his first and last literary love, poetry. Finally convinced that he could earn his living as an author, he retired from architecture, married, and devoted himself to writing. An extremely productive novelist, Hardy published an important book every year or two. In 1896, disturbed by the public outcry over the unconventional subjects of his two greatest novels—Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure—he announced that he was giving up fiction and afterward produced only poetry. In later years, he received many honors. He died on January 11, 1928, and was buried in Poet’s Corner, in Westminster Abbey. It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as his most memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, decisive delineation of character, and profound presentation of tragedy.

Details

  • Title The Return of the Native
  • Author Thomas Hardy; Tony Slade (Editor)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition International Ed
  • Pages 496
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, London, United Kingdom
  • Date 1999-08-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Glossary, Maps
  • ISBN 9780140435184 / 0140435182
  • Weight 0.75 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 in (19.56 x 12.70 x 2.29 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 1040
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
    • Topical: Family
  • Library of Congress subjects Mate selection, Mothers and sons
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 00265319
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) wrote novels and poetry, much of which is set in the semi-imaginary county of Wessex. His novels include Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge(1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles(1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). He published his first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, in 1898 and continued to publish collections of poems until his death.

Patricia Ingham is Senior Research Fellow and Reader at St Anne's College, Oxford. She has written on the Victorian novel and on Hardy in particular. She is the General Editor of all of Hardy's fiction in the Penguin Classics and has edited Gaskell's North and South for the series.

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The Return of the Native (Penguin Classics)
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