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ejrathke 's review for:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
This is a pretty interesting book. The story and so on is one thing, but what interests me is the unusual nature of the book and its narrative. Part of this is because I just don't know how this was perceived when it was published. Probably it was controversial, if only because of the subject matter.
Sex, unwed pregnancy, anti-Christianity, etc. This being a Victorian novel, it's not surprising how characters respond to a pregnancy out of wedlock, but what I think is interesting is how this narrative works both as a tragedy and a satire at the same time. I can think of few, if any, other books that do this same thing. Especially because the satire doesn't lessen the tragedy but strengthens it.
Hardy is often very biting with his satire. Or at least this is how I read this novel. I may be misreading it, but it seems clear that much of this is satirical or at least ironic. But it's also a very emotional novel, and those emotions are so caught up in social propriety and Christian morality. While Tess is the heroine, she is depicted as both fallen and tragic, but there's also a strong sense that she is being victimized by a culture of small meanness.
And so I feel as if Hardy is critiquing his own society but also using its culture to create a complicated and tragic figure. He's demanding these moral scolds understand and empathize with Tess. Which requires them to hold their own society in contempt, at least a bit. He's asking you to both spread and shed your Christian kindness. Your morality demands you see Tess as a sinner, a fallen woman, but your emotions demand that you see her victimized by this society. She may be a sinner, but she's also just a generally kind and good person.
It's a very interesting book. More complex than I expected.
I've been sort of failing to find novels that interest me for a few years, honestly. Occasionally I stumble into one that I love, but I've mostly been reading nonfiction because so much fiction has been missing for me lately. I've been meaning to read some of these Victorian novels as sort of an experiment to see if the greats of the past can rekindle something in me.
This novel didn't really hit me in the way I hoped, but I do find it one of the more interesting novels I've come across recently. So the start to this little experiment is a success.
We'll see how the rest go.
Sex, unwed pregnancy, anti-Christianity, etc. This being a Victorian novel, it's not surprising how characters respond to a pregnancy out of wedlock, but what I think is interesting is how this narrative works both as a tragedy and a satire at the same time. I can think of few, if any, other books that do this same thing. Especially because the satire doesn't lessen the tragedy but strengthens it.
Hardy is often very biting with his satire. Or at least this is how I read this novel. I may be misreading it, but it seems clear that much of this is satirical or at least ironic. But it's also a very emotional novel, and those emotions are so caught up in social propriety and Christian morality. While Tess is the heroine, she is depicted as both fallen and tragic, but there's also a strong sense that she is being victimized by a culture of small meanness.
And so I feel as if Hardy is critiquing his own society but also using its culture to create a complicated and tragic figure. He's demanding these moral scolds understand and empathize with Tess. Which requires them to hold their own society in contempt, at least a bit. He's asking you to both spread and shed your Christian kindness. Your morality demands you see Tess as a sinner, a fallen woman, but your emotions demand that you see her victimized by this society. She may be a sinner, but she's also just a generally kind and good person.
It's a very interesting book. More complex than I expected.
I've been sort of failing to find novels that interest me for a few years, honestly. Occasionally I stumble into one that I love, but I've mostly been reading nonfiction because so much fiction has been missing for me lately. I've been meaning to read some of these Victorian novels as sort of an experiment to see if the greats of the past can rekindle something in me.
This novel didn't really hit me in the way I hoped, but I do find it one of the more interesting novels I've come across recently. So the start to this little experiment is a success.
We'll see how the rest go.