tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post4657357570765869168..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: The Thomas Hardy Experience by John A. A. LoganKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-43503756240148137172015-09-17T09:32:17.408+01:002015-09-17T09:32:17.408+01:00Really enjoyed this. Have taught Tess and Far From...Really enjoyed this. Have taught Tess and Far From The Madding Crowd a fair few times - like Sue, I get furious with Angel Clare. But Jude - I couldn't be doing with the dreariness - and Old Father Time was a step too far for me. But your post has made me thing I must read, or re-read The Return of the Native...Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-52224431020428853612015-07-13T07:58:24.813+01:002015-07-13T07:58:24.813+01:00If you like Hardy, John, I think you would really ...If you like Hardy, John, I think you would really like S.R.Crockett! He's Galloway's version of Hardy - the 19th century based novels and stories especially and his natural description of Galloway landscape equals Hardy any day. Why not give him a go? Kit Kennedy, Kid McGhie and Rose of the Wilderness as well as Banner of Blue, Lilac Sunbonnet, Lads Love and Love Idylls, Banner of Blue and Strong Mac all good for Hardy Lovers. <br />Cleg Kelly for Dickens lovers, and for Stevenson Lovers: The Raiders, The Dark o' the Moon, Silver Sand (The Raiders Trilogy)... and that's just biting the surface of his 32 Galloway novels - not to mention the European ones. Truly, Scotland's Forgotten Bestseller.cally phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00909344624822186783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-40569337501051456262015-07-12T11:02:27.377+01:002015-07-12T11:02:27.377+01:00Sorry about weird unproofed repetition. But it may...Sorry about weird unproofed repetition. But it may make the point more strongly.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-37102922764889627002015-07-12T11:02:27.048+01:002015-07-12T11:02:27.048+01:00Sorry about weird unproofed repetition. But it may...Sorry about weird unproofed repetition. But it may make the point more strongly.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-49083388472271155132015-07-12T11:01:17.276+01:002015-07-12T11:01:17.276+01:00Wonderful post, John. Hardy has meant so much to m...Wonderful post, John. Hardy has meant so much to me too over the years. I first read Jude when I was just going into the 6th form at school and identified with him completely. Unlike him, I was so lucky about when I was born, so itt worked out well for me. But there will be many, many more Judes in the future. but now, there will be many, many more Judes. Yes, I suppose it was more 'droit de seigneur' than rape for Tess - but then, what's the difference? I agree with Sue: Alex has a lot more about him that horrible hypocrital rat Angel Clare. Thanks to Kindle, I've downloaded Hardy's complete works for free. I've just tried reading his very first novel, Desperate Remedies. I doubt if I'll finish it because it's AWFUL.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-39598717296383671032015-07-12T11:01:16.785+01:002015-07-12T11:01:16.785+01:00Wonderful post, John. Hardy has meant so much to m...Wonderful post, John. Hardy has meant so much to me too over the years. I first read Jude when I was just going into the 6th form at school and identified with him completely. Unlike him, I was so lucky about when I was born, so itt worked out well for me. But there will be many, many more Judes in the future. but now, there will be many, many more Judes. Yes, I suppose it was more 'droit de seigneur' than rape for Tess - but then, what's the difference? I agree with Sue: Alex has a lot more about him that horrible hypocrital rat Angel Clare. Thanks to Kindle, I've downloaded Hardy's complete works for free. I've just tried reading his very first novel, Desperate Remedies. I doubt if I'll finish it because it's AWFUL.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-16607410765619884812015-07-11T22:36:14.714+01:002015-07-11T22:36:14.714+01:00What a terrific post John - thank youWhat a terrific post John - thank youjulia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-33228035141971055002015-07-11T22:32:25.926+01:002015-07-11T22:32:25.926+01:00“Be a good boy, remember; and be kind to animals a...“Be a good boy, remember; and be kind to animals and birds, and read all you can." Thomas Hardy - Mr. Phillotson to Jude.<br /><br />Wonderful post!Áinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-59953049238452426422015-07-11T13:33:32.218+01:002015-07-11T13:33:32.218+01:00Thanks for the memories, John. I'm still a hug...Thanks for the memories, John. I'm still a huge fan of Hardy and you reminded me of how powerful some of his set pieces are: the sheep being chased over the cliff, Henchard selling Susan, the sounds of music outside as Jude is dying. Some of them even had a strange sort of Beckettian humour, as when Jude walks out onto the ice and jumps up and down but it doesn't break so he wanders off and Hardy writes 'He supposed he was not a sufficiently dignified person for suicide'.<br />Incidentally, I was also lucky enough to live in Dorchester for 3 years, my daughters were born there, and Hardy and his characters were everywhere.<br />Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07675643113010061969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-91385848606424339562015-07-11T13:29:10.132+01:002015-07-11T13:29:10.132+01:00Such an excellent, interesting post, John. I too r...Such an excellent, interesting post, John. I too read Hardy when I was younger - and at university as well. Our lecturer was passionate about the poems and I suspect we were all a bit bemused by his passion because we all preferred the novels. For me, Jude was a bridge too far. Just too grim. I liked Under the Greenwood Tree a lot though. Always wanted to dramatise one of his novels for radio, but somebody else always got in first!Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-9818102160240320722015-07-11T11:27:51.541+01:002015-07-11T11:27:51.541+01:00Beautiful post, John.
Hardy does evoke strong fee...Beautiful post, John.<br /><br />Hardy does evoke strong feelings, doesn't he? I have to admit that I had no idea there was this big controversy about whether or not Tess was raped. I assumed, when I read it, that she was - and that one of the twists that Hardy creates is that she was, eventually, better treated and loved by her rapist, who she murders, than by that useless creep Angel Clare, who she's fixated on. (There's those strong feelings. I wanted to kick Clare and slap Tess.)<br /><br />Even if it wasn't rape, then Alex is guilty of what a lot of young men did then - there are stories in my own family - of using a 'lower class' girl for sex and then deserting her. I think that view makes better sense of the story and characters' motivations, in many ways.<br /><br />I threw Jude the Obscure across the room, so great was my exasperation. Much of the characters' misery is their own creation, caused by adhering to 'respectability' or 'morality', or what was considered moral. I was so exasperated because I knew that, at the time the book was written, my own family were happily ignoring such morality and nobody, as far as I can tell, gave a stuff. So it all seemed like a Force 12 in a thimble.<br /><br />But certainly, I can't think of another novelist who's got under my skin to that extent - and I love his poetry.<br />Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60175018084919705312015-07-11T09:45:42.334+01:002015-07-11T09:45:42.334+01:00A passionate post John about the power of reading ...A passionate post John about the power of reading and the 'right time' to read books and authors - so many have been put off by being forced to study books before being ready to enjoy them. I had my Hardy period too, I devoured them all but I can't read them now. His work stays with you for ever but the sheer misery of the novels is just too much to bear and I don't want to 'go there' again, though who knows, I may be ready again one day! The debates about Tess, was she/wasn't she, is also a tribute to the author - I mean, all that intense arguing about a fictional character and event, as if it was real! Wonderful. I suppose now I'd be asking, did Hardy intend for us to think that... though it's always difficult to judge past events in their own cultural and educational contexts by our own definitions. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-24117550020957343542015-07-11T07:36:38.599+01:002015-07-11T07:36:38.599+01:00Oh Hardy! I had to study The Return of the Native ...Oh Hardy! I had to study The Return of the Native at school - we were meant to read a section a week but I got caught reading it under the desk in Maths. Read all the others that first term - who needs homework, after all! And now I live a littl to the north of Hardy country, but can't stroll along as sheep drove without thinking that Tess might have walked along paths like this!JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.com