"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy, 1891)

Tess's father (ne'er-do-well who married a kindred spirit) learns that he is a direct descendant of once-famous English noble family (the D'Urbervilles), now forgotten to all but a few folks who chase genealogy.

D'Urberville parvenu - nothing but trouble for the protagonist (Tess).

Angel Clare - in love with Tess, but troubled by her troubles.  Clergyman father.  Attempts to farm in Brazil after breaking several milkmaid hearts.

Hardy, as always, outstanding in observing the countryside, the manners of its inhabitants.

Discussing a May-Day walk by the village women - which succeeded the May Pole dance - "The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns - a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms - days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average." (p. 747)  I rather liked that passage.  And many others.


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