Description
The story of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, cruelly seduced by her relative the cynical Alec d'Urberville, betrayed by the Moral Angel Clare and haunted by her guilt and shame, becomes in Hhardy's hands an indictment of all the crimes and hypocrisies of nineteenth-century England- its pharisaic religion, its cruel class-system, the destruction of traditional agriculture and the perversions of the 'modern' consciousness.Of all Hardy's heroines none is more touching than Tess, and of all his novels this is the one with the most universal range. Hardy was never more masterful than here is evoking a vanished rural way of life and even this most tragic of books is lightened by his delightful and clear-eyed humour.
The story of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, cruelly seduced by her relative the cynical Alec d'Urberville, betrayed by the Moral Angel Clare and haunted by her guilt and shame, becomes in Hhardy's hands an indictment of all the crimes and hypocrisies of nineteenth-century England- its pharisaic religion, its cruel class-system, the destruction of traditional agriculture and the perversions of the 'modern' consciousness.Of all Hardy's heroines none is more touching than Tess, and of all his novels this is the one with the most universal range. Hardy was never more masterful than here is evoking a vanished rural way of life...
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