Far from the rural idyll

A century and a half after the publication of his breakthrough novel, Nancy Alsop examines what influenced Thomas Hardy’s writing

When Thomas Hardy published his perennially popular novel Far From the Madding Crowd in 1874, it, somewhat surprisingly, came on the back of failure and obscurity. His debut novel The Poor Man and The Lady went unpublished, its themes deemed too politically controversial for commercial interest, while his next two efforts were published anonymously. However, 150 years ago, when he sent the full-length Far From the Madding Crowd into the world, it met with a receptive audience, not least because the saga was already very much alive in its readership’s imaginations, having been serialised in the distinguished Cornhill Magazine over the preceding two years. Despite contemporary novelist Henry James’s exasperation with Hardy’s style (“The only things we believe in are the sheep and the dogs”), its critical reception was broadly good, and its…

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Discover Britain (Digital) - 1 Issue, June - July 2024

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