
Thomas Hardy
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Narrated by:
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Josephine Bailey
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By:
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Claire Tomalin
Ironically, though, Hardy remained safe in the arms of this same upper class during the publication of these books, acting at all times in complete convention with the rules of society. Was he using his books to express himself in a way he felt unable to in the company he kept, or did he know sensationalism would sell? Award-winning author Claire Tomalin expertly reconstructs the life that led Hardy to maintain conventionality while promoting revolution in his writing.
Hardy's work consistently challenged sexual and religious conventions in a way that few other authors of the time dared. Though his personal modesty and kindness allowed some to underestimate him, or even to pity him, they did not prevent him from taking on the central themes of human experience: time, memory, loss, love, fear, grief, anger, uncertainty, death. And it was exactly his quiet life, full of the small, personal dramas of family quarrels, rivalries, and, at times, despair, that infuses his works with the rich detail that sets them apart as masterpieces.
In this engrossing biography, Tomalin skillfully identifies the inner demons and the outer mores that drove Hardy and presents a rich and complex portrait of one of the greatest figures in English literature.
©2007 Claire Tomalin (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"A richly introspective biography sure to rekindle interest in Hardy's writing." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A feat of distillation and mature judgment, Tomalin's biography artfully presents Hardy in his intimate and social world, offering succinct and insightful readings of his work along the way." (Publishers Weekly)
"This is the triumph of the biographer's art, of which Tomalin is a master: to be absolutely true to the last scrap of fact-that is, never to embellish or contort those facts-yet to create something utterly new and undreamt of, something more than the mere sum of those facts." (Chicago Tribune)
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The narrator is suburb. She has has a bagful of appropriate accents to bring the quotes to life, and it is easy to follow when the story changes from background text (read in the King's English) to quoted works, and to quoted speech, Perfect.
I ended up buying a used hardcover edition in mint condition that has too sets of photographs, and I am looking forward to going back to review the virtual bookmarks I made in the audio edition. I look forward to trying another of the author's bios.
One of the best biographies I've read/listened to
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Hardy Fan
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Ms. Tomalin has made Hardy’s life as rich as his novels
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Beautiful Biography
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A Sensitive Portrait
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This is a very complete history, to the extent that you no only go through his life, but the lives of family and friends. Great for the historian, but I felt in the end that some questions still linger.
Worse, I didn't feel the writers perspective was at all objective. She went about trying to prove her hypothesis and in the end, I wasn't convinced. However still, I felt it was interesting and well written.
The reader has a very pleasing voice and she manages French and German phrases with ease. However, when portraying women, she used affected speech that made you feel she was holding judgement of the individual. I understand the stiffness of Victorian language, but perhaps this woman wasn't haughty or aloof. I saw that the readers portrayal could misrepresent an important character.
Mixed Feelings
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