Summary:
The critical essay that I looked at was Irving Howe's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles--At the center of Hardy's Achievement" (406-422). This piece of criticism closely examines many aspects of not only the novel, but also Hardy's overall authorship of many pieces of literature. Howe strongly centers on Tess' character and carefully looks at her through nearly each event of the book. Her essay begins with the opening pages of the novel and walks us through the book in its entirety (essentially she adds her commentary in a summary of the book), while commenting on certain aspects of Tess' character and what Hardy may (or may not) have been doing with her. She believes that Hardy's love for women, for the female gender, is where Tess comes from. Howe states, " Though [he] is quite capable of releasing animus toward his women characters and casting them as figures of destruction, he [Hardy] could not imagine a universe without an active, even an intruding, feminine principle" (406). Howe studies the feminism in the Tess character much farther in this essay. She focuses a lot on the idea about how women play a role in chastity, Christianity, the conventions of society of that time, romantics, fate, purity and how Hardy is responding to all of these things through Tess. Howe draws an overall impression or conclusion for Tess, saying, "Through a dialectic of negation, Tess reaches purity of spirit even as she fails to satisfy the standards of the world" (408). The conclusion that is drawn by Howe is that Tess' character, while very complex, is used in a manner by Hardy to do and achieve many things. It is very clear that Irving Howe is a Tess lover. She finds her fascinating and sees that Hardy's use of her was multidimensional.
Response:
I loved what Howe had to say about Tess. It was nice to read a piece of criticism that really analyzed Tess in depth and made very strong arguments for not just her as a character of a fictional novel, but also for Hardy as a writer. I am still kind of shocked by the intensity of emotions that Tess' character brings out in readers; it seems like most either really love her or absolutely despise her. I liked Tess and could see where some could dislike her, but hating her seems extreme. Also, even as someone who enjoyed the character, it is hard to see how some absolutely loved and idolized her....I guess I am just the "middle of the roader" when it comes to Tess. I think that Irving did a great job of carefully stating her thoughts and then completely supporting and backing them up. She was very precise and she took several angles of seeing what Hardy's was maybe up-to in certain areas of the book. Also, I think my favorite part of her essay was the very end; what she said wrapped everything up and made it make a whole lot of sense. She says: "Only one 'character' is almost as important as Tess, and that is Hardy himself", she clarifies this by saying, "He hovers and watches over Tess, like a stricken father" (422). Finally she brings this all to light by concluding, "If we see Hardy's relationship to Tess in this way, we can be a good deal more patient with the passages of intermittent philosophizing that dot the book... they [the passages] are evidence of Hardy's concern, tokens of bafflement before the agony of the world" (422). This is a wise thought because I think if we think of Hardy as he was writing Tess we can almost see what he was trying/attempting to do in most of the book.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Contemporary Critical Reception of Tess
Summary:
The contemporary critical receptions that were written about Tess of the U'dbervilles all had different ideas, notions and interpretations about Hardy's novel, although its seems as if many of them shared one opinion: that Tess was one of Hardy's better novels. For instance, The Illistrated Sunday News of January 9, 1892 states, "Mr. Hardy's new novel is in many respects the finest work which he has yet produced" (382) and The Spectator of January 23, 1982 reflects nearly the same thought when they say, "Mr. Hardy has written one of his most powerful novels, perhaps the most powerful which he ever wrote (384). Other like statements can be found or inferred in the majority of these receptions, but it was the Interview with Thomas Hardy (388-389) where we can see a distinct switch in attitude. As mentioned, several (at all, but most) of these pieces praise Hardy for his work or maybe more specifically with a certain character, however seeing Tess through the lens of the author places quite a different context aside from the other receptions. In this interview, Hardy is very precise, confident and to the point; he speaks very eloquently and with a sense of truth and certainty. He is asked direct questions about why he wrote something in the fashion that he did or about larger concerns about the novel like the controversial character of Tess and the idea behind her being "pure". This interview also questions Hardy on character development, asking, "Are many of your characters from life, Mr. Hardy?" Interestingly enough he simply responds, " Oh, yes, almost all of them" (389). Hardy seems to speak very honestly of his writing of Tess and through that honesty comes an implication that Hardy was rather proud of this writing of Tess of the U'dbervilles.
Response:
Many of these critical receptions were very interesting because I felt that they all offered different ideas and all brought something new to the table that maybe I had not considered before, but reading Hardy's own thoughts about his novel was like the cherry on top. I was amazed with his responses. They helped me to better understand his writing/thinking style and also see why he made some of the choices he did. His response to the ending of the book was really fascinating. When asked why Tess was given such a sad ending, he answers, "I hate the optimistic grin which ends a story happily, merely to suit conventional ideas. It raises a far greater horror in me than the honest sadness that comes after tragedy", he shortly thereafter adds, "They [Angel and Tess] would never have lived happily" (388). Even though the ending personally had me a little disgruntled, I can very easily see why it was done the way it was just from this response of Hardy. He had a reason for doing it. That has been the underlying question(s) to the three novels that we have read and discussed. What was the author doing? What purpose did they have? What portrayal were they trying to achieve? It becomes clear in hearing from the authors perspective, such as Hardy, that they do have a reason or agenda behind every detail of these novels written in this time; which to me is very interesting. It makes me feel almost guilty for responding so animatedly to some of the events in the book in the way that I did because that author had a meaning/purpose behind it. Especially for Tess, the ending was (the events of the last 10-15 pages) where I struggled the most. The way Hardy concluded it was nothing that I had expected--although on that thought, I was not sure what I was expecting either. However, this may have been Thomas Hardy's intent and if that was his purpose, his aim, his goal, his agenda, than he succeeded! Maybe this jarring end is why Tess is recognized in these receptions as being one of Hardy's "better novels".
The contemporary critical receptions that were written about Tess of the U'dbervilles all had different ideas, notions and interpretations about Hardy's novel, although its seems as if many of them shared one opinion: that Tess was one of Hardy's better novels. For instance, The Illistrated Sunday News of January 9, 1892 states, "Mr. Hardy's new novel is in many respects the finest work which he has yet produced" (382) and The Spectator of January 23, 1982 reflects nearly the same thought when they say, "Mr. Hardy has written one of his most powerful novels, perhaps the most powerful which he ever wrote (384). Other like statements can be found or inferred in the majority of these receptions, but it was the Interview with Thomas Hardy (388-389) where we can see a distinct switch in attitude. As mentioned, several (at all, but most) of these pieces praise Hardy for his work or maybe more specifically with a certain character, however seeing Tess through the lens of the author places quite a different context aside from the other receptions. In this interview, Hardy is very precise, confident and to the point; he speaks very eloquently and with a sense of truth and certainty. He is asked direct questions about why he wrote something in the fashion that he did or about larger concerns about the novel like the controversial character of Tess and the idea behind her being "pure". This interview also questions Hardy on character development, asking, "Are many of your characters from life, Mr. Hardy?" Interestingly enough he simply responds, " Oh, yes, almost all of them" (389). Hardy seems to speak very honestly of his writing of Tess and through that honesty comes an implication that Hardy was rather proud of this writing of Tess of the U'dbervilles.
Response:
Many of these critical receptions were very interesting because I felt that they all offered different ideas and all brought something new to the table that maybe I had not considered before, but reading Hardy's own thoughts about his novel was like the cherry on top. I was amazed with his responses. They helped me to better understand his writing/thinking style and also see why he made some of the choices he did. His response to the ending of the book was really fascinating. When asked why Tess was given such a sad ending, he answers, "I hate the optimistic grin which ends a story happily, merely to suit conventional ideas. It raises a far greater horror in me than the honest sadness that comes after tragedy", he shortly thereafter adds, "They [Angel and Tess] would never have lived happily" (388). Even though the ending personally had me a little disgruntled, I can very easily see why it was done the way it was just from this response of Hardy. He had a reason for doing it. That has been the underlying question(s) to the three novels that we have read and discussed. What was the author doing? What purpose did they have? What portrayal were they trying to achieve? It becomes clear in hearing from the authors perspective, such as Hardy, that they do have a reason or agenda behind every detail of these novels written in this time; which to me is very interesting. It makes me feel almost guilty for responding so animatedly to some of the events in the book in the way that I did because that author had a meaning/purpose behind it. Especially for Tess, the ending was (the events of the last 10-15 pages) where I struggled the most. The way Hardy concluded it was nothing that I had expected--although on that thought, I was not sure what I was expecting either. However, this may have been Thomas Hardy's intent and if that was his purpose, his aim, his goal, his agenda, than he succeeded! Maybe this jarring end is why Tess is recognized in these receptions as being one of Hardy's "better novels".
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