Thomas Hardy : folklore and resistance / Jacqueline Dillon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dillion, Jacqueline, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928.

Hardy, Thomas.

Folklore--Criticism and interpretation--History.

Folklore.

Criticism and interpretation.

History.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 206 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Palgrave Macmillan, [2016]

Summary:

"This book reassesses Hardy's fiction in the light of his prolonged engagement with the folklore and traditions of rural England. Drawing on wide research, it demonstrates the pivotal role played in the novels by such customs and beliefs as 'overlooking', hag-riding, skimmington-riding, sympathetic magic, mumming, bonfire nights, May Day celebrations, Midsummer divination, and the 'Portland Custom'. This study shows how such traditions were lived out in practice in village life, and how they were represented in written texts - in literature, newspapers, county histories, folklore books, the work of the Folklore Society, archival documents, and letters. It explores tensions between Hardy's repeated insistence on the authenticity of his accounts and his engagement with contemporary anthropologists and folklorists, and reveals how his efforts to resist their 'excellently neat' categories of culture open up wider questions about the nature of belief, progress, and social change."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Belief : overlooking, sympathetic magic, hag-riding, and South's tree

Acts of disapproval : Skimmington riding

Acts of approval : the Portland custom

Winter customs : bonfire night and mumming

Summer customs : May Day and Midsummer divination.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-199) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Dillon, Jacqueline. Thomas Hardy : folklore and resistance.

ISBN:

9781137503190

113750319X

OCLC:

934194046