Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy: last of the Victorians, or first of the moderns? Great novelist, but supreme poet? Pre-eminent commentator on a culture in transition? So many questions surround the key figures in the English literary canon, but most books focus on one aspect of an author's life or work, or limit themselves to a single critical approach. "The Complete Critical Guide to Thomas Hardy" is part of a series of comprehensive, user-friendly introductions which: offer basic information on an author's life, contexts, and works; outline the major critical issues surrounding the author's works, from the time they were written to the present; leave judgements up to you, by explaining the full range of often very different critical views and interpretations; and offer guides to further reading in each area discussed. This series has a broad focus but one very clear aim: to equip readers with all the knowledge they need to make their own new readings of crucial literary texts.

Geoffrey Harvey is the author of The Romantic Tradition in Modern English Poetry (1986). He is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Reading.