THOMAS HARDY:
He was born in Dorset in 1840 and lived close to his land and rural life. Hardy’s education was limited but he practiced architecture in London before returning to Dorset. He began to write poetry but none was published, so he turned to fiction and in few years achieved popularity. After his first popular success (Far from the Madding Crowd 1874) he gave up his career in architecture to devote himself to writing. He wrote many novels, called ‘Wessex novels’ from the fictional name, where the novels are setting. Hardy called Wessex the Dorset, his native region. Tess of the d’Ubbervilles (1891) is his finest study of female character and Jude the Obscure (1896), his last novel, contains his vision of life. Hardy was a Victorian novelist but a 20th century poet. The Dynast (1904-1908) is an epic drama, eight volumes about the Napoleonic wars, which is in partly poetry and partly prose. Hardy’s novels are set in the countryside and show affection for the vanishing agricultural world in the face of increasing urbanization. A deep pessimism permeates all his work. The author does not believe in the existing of a loving God and has a pessimistic and fatalistic outlook on life: the forces which govern the world seem to enjoy to inflicting suffering on helpless and harmless creature like Tess and Jude. Hardy uses a suggestive technique to show how the destiny is predetermined by fate: there are some premonitory incidents or elements, which suggest the end of the story.