| Thomas Hardy: Folklore and Resistance 2016 Edition Contributor(s): Dillion, Jacqueline (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 113750319X ISBN-13: 9781137503190 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $94.99 Product Type: Hardcover Published: October 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Modern - 19th Century - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh - Literary Criticism | European - General |
| Dewey: 809 |
| LCCN: 2016947010 |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6.06" W x 8.65" (0.85 lbs) 206 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |