The withered arm and other stories 1874-1888 / Thomas Hardy ; edited with an introduction and notes by Kristin Brady.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928.

Contributor:

Brady, Kristin, 1949-

Series:

Penguin classics

Language:

English

Physical Description:

xliv, 416 pages, map ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Penguin, 1999.

Summary:

The nine stories collected in this volume were written during the period 1874-1888. Beautiful in their own right, these stories are also testing-grounds for the novels of Hardy's maturity in their controversial sexual politics, their refusal of romance structures, and their elegiac pursuit of past, lost loves. In the title story Rhoda Brook, the abandoned mistress of Farmer Lodge, is jealous to discover details of his new bride. Hardy's first story, "Destiny and a Blue Cloak, " was written fresh from the success of Far from the Madding Crowd. Several of the stories in The Withered Arm were collected to form the famous volume Wessex Tales (1888), the first time Hardy denoted "Wessex" to describe his fictional world. This volume also includes the stories "The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing, " "The Distracted Preacher, " "Fellow-Townsmen, " "The Three Strangers, " "The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid, " "Interlopers at the Knap, " and "The Waiting Supper."

Contents:

Chronology: Hardy's Life and Works x

Map: Wessex Novels Edition xiv

Short Stories

Destiny and a Blue Cloak 3

The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing 27

The Distracted Preacher 34

Fellow-Townsmen 90

The Three Strangers 140

The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid 162

Interlopers at the Knap 250

The Waiting Supper 280

The Withered Arm 329

Appendix I History of the Short Story Collections 395

Appendix II Charles Stanley Reinhart's Illustrations for 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' 398.

ISBN:

0140435328

OCLC:

41019332