Thomas Hardy : A Critical Spectrum (Hardcover) | Released: 2002

Thomas Hardy was equally eminent as a novelist and a poet and thus holds a unique place in English Literature. More than seven decades after his death, Thomas Hardy is still surprisingly alive if uninterrupted critical attention is a test. The nineteen essays included in the volume — thirteen on Hardy’s fiction, five on his poetry, and one on general overview — cover a broad range of critical perspective on Hardy’s fiction and poetry, which include the comparative, the Freudian, the existentialist, the absurdist, the ‘psychospatial,’ the feminist, the aesthetic-artistic, the historicist, the dialectical, the mythical, the symbolic, among others. The collection will be relevant and useful to both students and scholars of English literature as it brings into focus a wide spectrum of interesting sidelights on, and illuminating analyses of the various dimensions of Hardy’s works; some of the papers are refreshingly original and perceptive in their approach to and treatment of the respective subjects. As a ‘great’ writer Hardy has remained problematic, demanding that his readers wrestle with him. The present volume claims to have joined that unbroken wrestle — more than a century-old — with the words and meanings of Hardy’s works. Contributions from the eminent scholars in the field have enhanced the value of the collection.

Table of Contents:
Section I Critical Perspectives on Fiction 1. The ‘Idiot’ in Wordsworth and Hardy –Sobha Chattopadhyay 2. Hardy’s Tragic Character : ‘The Children of Light’ –Usha Walters Kishore 3. The Quest for Self-identity in Thomas Hardy with Special Reference to his Novel The Return of the Native –Vinod Kumar Maheswari 4. Egdon as Psycho-space –Suman Jana 5. Thomas Hardy’s Egdon Heath and Naguib Mahfouz’s ZuqÈq Al-Midaqq : A Comparative Study of the Protagonist –Ayyoub M.A. Othman 6. A Mother-Obsessed Son –S.M. Chanda 7. ‘Motherhood’ in The Mayor of Casterbridge : A Feminist Reading –Sneha Mishra 8. Hardy’s Women : A Feminist View –Santosh Chakrabarti 9. A Fresh Look at Thomas Hardy’s Henchard –Subha Tiwari 10 . Tess of the d’Urbervilles : Hardy’s Vision of Life –S.P. Swain 11. Hardy’s Poetic Vision in Tess of the d’Urbervilles –Dipak Jyoti Baruah 12. The Problem of Love and Marriage in Jude, the Obscure –Basavaraj Naikar 13. Hardy-Pierston : The Breakdown of Fiction –Rama Kundu Section II Critical Perspectives on Poetry 14. Thomas Hardy as a War-Poet –Mohit K. Ray 15. Thomas Hardy and the Aesthetics of Dialecticism –Ranjan Ghosh 16. Hardy and Housman : A Comparative Study –Mallikarjun Patil 17. ‘The Weeping Woman of Calvaria’ : Demeter : Tryphena –Rama Kundu 18. The Poetic Corpus of Thomas Hardy : An Evaluation –C.L. Khatri Section III An Overview of Hardy’s life and Works 19. Thomas Hardy’s Life and Works : An Overview –T.M.J. Indra Mohan A Select Reading List List of Contributors