Thomas Hardy

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Georgia

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891 and in book form in 1892. Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.Lecherous Alec d'Urberville arranges a job for Tess on his family's estate. While Tess is reluctant, it is her only income and she feels guilty about an accident involving the family's horse. But sex pest Alec repeatedly tries to seduce Tess, finally taking advantage of her one night in the forest. Tess gives birth to his child and christens the boy Sorrow. Shortly after the birth, however, Sorrow dies. Tess is forced to seek work again, this time as a milkmaid at the Talbothays Dairy. It is during this happy period that Tess befriends three fellow milkmaids and a man named Angel Clare. Tess falls in love with Angel and they soon marry, but it is not until after the wedding that Tess confesses she has a past and lost her son: Rather than forgive her, Angel gives Tess money and boards a ship bound for Brazil. Once again Tess is faced with life on her own, forced to fight for her survival.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

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Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy's immortal work. Of all the great English novelists, no one writes more eloquently of tragic destiny than Hardy. With the innocent and powerless victim Tess, he creates profound sympathy for human frailty while passionately indicting the injustices of Victorian society. Scorned by outraged readers upon its publication in 1891, Tess of the d'Urbervilles is today one of the enduring classics of nineteenth-century literature.

A Pure Woman

An intimate portrait of a woman, one of literature's most admirable and tragic heroines...

Tess Durbeyfield knows what it is to work hard and expect little. But her life is about to veer from the path trod by her mother and grandmother. When her ne'er-do-well father learns that his family is the last of a long noble line, the d'Urbervilles, he sends Tess on a journey to meet her supposed kin--a journey that will see her victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. Shaped by an acute sense of social injustice and by a vision of human fate cosmic in scope, her story is a singular blending of harsh realism and poignant beauty. Thomas Hardy created in Tess not a standard Victorian heroine but a woman whose intense vitality shines against the bleak backdrop of a dying way of life. The novel shocked contemporary readers with its honesty and remains a timeless commentary on the human condition.

With an Introduction by Marcelle Clements 

Category - Fiction / Classics

Format - Paperback

Condition - Like New

Listed - 18 days ago

Views - 5

Wishes - 1

Ships From - Georgia

Est. Publication Date - Dec 2015