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".