| Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy, Fiction, Literary, Short Stories Contributor(s): Hardy, Thomas (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 1603128123 ISBN-13: 9781603128124 Publisher: Aegypan OUR PRICE: $31.46 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2007 * Not available - Not in print at this time *Annotation: "Desperate Remedies" (1871) is Thomas Hardy's first published novel. After a failed attempt at satire, Hardy turned his talents to writing romances, and thus his first three novels are romances -- very different from his later, darker Wessex novels. "Desperate Remedies" tells the story of Cytherea Gray, who becomes as lady's maid, although she is in love with Edward Springrove, who is already engaged to marry another young woman. Cytherea then makes a misalliance with the dreadful and possibly murderous Aeneas Manston. With suspense, Aeneas' villainy and treachery are finally revealed, with happy results for Cytherea and Edward. Far different in tone from Hardy's later novels, "Desperate Remedies" has more Gothic suspense than brooding depression. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Short Stories (single Author) |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Physical Information: 1.06" H x 6" W x 9" (1.64 lbs) 416 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Contributor Bio(s): Hardy, Thomas: - "Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focused more on a declining rural society. While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin. Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances and they are often set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex; initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in southwest and south central England. He destroyed the manuscript of his first, unplaced novel, but -- encouraged by mentor and friend George Meredith -- tried again. His important work took place in an area of southern England he called Wessex, named after the English kingdom that existed before the Norman Conquest." |