A Reader's Guide to Essential Criticism
'Tess Of The d'Urbervilles' engendered fierce controversy when Hardy famously defended Tess as a "pure woman" in the first volume edition. Current arguments about Hardy's relationship with his heroine and her rural world have ensured that this text remains a centre of ideological debate. In this rich and complex novel, Hardy's daring treatment of the fallen woman issue reaches a profound depth of tragic intensity. And he sets his powerful critique of Victorian society in a "Wessex" landscape that is incomparably evoked.
In this Icon Readers' Guide, Geoffrey Harvey selects extracts from the most significant, and often brilliant, essays among the huge body of critical writing that 'Tess Of The d'Urbervilles' has attracted. He focuses on important textual issues unique to this novel, and contextualises areas of recurrent debate. Beginning with the sharply conflicting responses of contemporary reviewers in the 1890s, this Guide traces the evolution of 'Tess' criticism up to the most recent work of the 1990s, encompassing the major developments in literary theory - among them humanist formalism, New Criticism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, political criticism and feminist theory.
'Icon Readers' Guides' explore the key critical material relating to major works of world literature. A clear, informative narrative links the extracts and examines their context and importance. From contemporary reviews to postmodern readings, the Guides offer readers a full account of the ways in which the works have been received by academics, critics and the public.
