Tess of the D'urbervilles: Original and Unabridged

Publisher Marketing: Tess of the d'Urbervilles by "Thomas Hardy." Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day. Hardy's writing often illustrates the "ache of modernism," and this theme is notable in Tess, which, as one critic noted, portrays "the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them." However, Marxist critic Raymond Williams questions the identification of Tess with a peasantry destroyed by industrialism. Tess is not a peasant, she is a school educated member of the rural working class: she suffers a tragedy through being thwarted, in her aspirations to rise and her desire for a good life, not by "industrialism" but by the landed bourgeoisie (Alec), liberal idealism (Angel) and Christian moralism in her family's village. Another important theme of the novel is the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim; despite being, in Hardy's view, a truly good woman, she is despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Hardy plays the role of Tess's only true friend and advocate, pointedly subtitling the book "a pure woman faithfully presented." However, although Hardy clearly means to criticise Victorian notions of female purity, the double standard also makes the heroine's tragedy possible, and thus serves as a mechanism of Tess's broader fate. Hardy variously hints that Tess must suffer either to atone for the misdeeds of her ancestors, or to provide temporary amusement for the gods, or because she possesses some small but lethal character flaw inherited from the ancient clan. Review Citations: Library Journal 10/01/2008 pg. 103 (EAN 9781400106998, Compact Disc) Library Journal 10/01/2008 pg. 103 (EAN 9781400136995, Compact Disc) Library Journal 10/01/2008 pg. 103 (EAN 9781400156993, MP3 CD) Publishers Weekly 07/28/2008 pg. 68 (EAN 9789626348673, Compact Disc) Ingram Advance 05/01/2005 pg. 113 (EAN 9780192840691, Paperback) Library Journal 08/01/1996 (EAN 9780745127446, Analog Audio Cassette) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 410 (EAN 9780679405863, Hardcover) Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2007 pg. 760 (EAN 9780679405863, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 324 (EAN 9780679405863, Hardcover) Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2011 pg. 953 (EAN 9780679405863, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2014 pg. 399 (EAN 9780679405863, Hardcover) Booklist 09/01/1993 pg. 11 (EAN 9780460873444, Paperback) Library Journal 05/15/1998 pg. 121 (EAN 9780312163754, Hardcover) Entertainment Weekly 12/11/2009 pg. 119 (EAN 9780141040332, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Hardy, Thomas, Defendant Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in Dorchester, Dorset. He enrolled as a student in King s College, London, but never felt at ease there, seeing himself as socially inferior. This preoccupation with society, particularly the declining rural society, featured heavily in Hardy s novels, with many of his stories set in the fictional county of Wessex. Since his death in 1928, Hardy has been recognised as a significant poet, influencing The Movement poets in the 1950s and 1960s.