Book Description
A ne'er-do-well exploits his gentle daughter's beauty for social advancement in this masterpiece of tragic fiction. Hardy's 1891 novel defied convention to focus on the rural lower class for a frank treatment of sexuality and religion. Then and now, his sympathetic portrait of a victim of Victorian hypocrisy offers compelling reading.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The tragic story of a woman wronged by two men and by the harsh, repressive society in which she lives. Hardy's most striking and tragic heroine, Tess is a woman of intense vitality and innate goodness, and the author's favorite character.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The chance discovery by a young peasant woman that she is a descendant of the noble family of d'Urbervilles is to change the course of her life. Tess Durbeyfield leaves home on the first of her fateful journeys, and meets the ruthless Alec d'Urberville. Thomas Hardy's impassioned story tells of hope and disappointment, rejection and enduring love.

SYNOPSIS

Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy’s immortal work. Of all the great English novelists, no one writes more eloquently of tragic destiny than Hardy. With the innocent and powerless victim Tess, he creates profound sympathy for human frailty while passionately indicting the injustices of Victorian society. Scorned by outraged readers upon its publication in 1891, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is today one of the enduring classics of nineteenth-century literature.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

This edition of the Hardy classic includes a complete authoritative text plus biographical and historical contexts, critical history, essays by five scholars, and a glossary. A fine scholarly edition for the academic crowd.

Booknews

Introduces students to several critical approaches to literature through a reading of Hardy's novel. Includes a 1920 reimpression of the novel and essays on New Historicism, feminist and gender criticism, deconstruction, reader-response criticism, and cultural criticism. Each of these essays includes an overview of the approach, the approach applied to , and a selected bibliography. No index. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

AudioFile - Preston Wilson

Those who are intimidated by the thought of reading an expansive, elaborate, great English novel, take heart. Now you can delight in hearing this classic story told to you. Peter Firth artistically interprets this fateful tale of a young country woman￯﾿ﾽs entrapment by one of literature￯﾿ﾽs great cads, Alec D￯﾿ﾽUrberville, and her subsequent abandonment by her husband, Angel Clare. Firth￯﾿ﾽs tone is one of gentle solemnity, quiet and sad, not overly dramatic, but still foreboding. His dialects sound natural and unforced. His pacing is unrushed, respectful of the book￯﾿ﾽs structure and punctuation. His pronunciation is flawless, with words like interlocutor and theolatry little sound poems in themselves. His light voice for Tess captures both the vulnerability and quiet strength of this misused maiden. His homage to Hardy￯﾿ﾽs world view is evident in his thoughtful rendering of every homily, philosophical assertion and poetic description. Production values are also top rate: no swallows, gulps, or page turnings. The volume level is consistent, and the entire performance is of the best fidelity. It￯﾿ﾽs hard to think that TESS could be interpreted better. P.W. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

AudioFile - Jane K. Riff