ABSTRACT

Thomas Hardy penned nearly fifty short stories, but in spite of this impressive number, his contributions to the genre have been relatively understudied. Bringing together an international group of scholars, this is the first edited collection devoted solely to Hardy's works of short fiction. The contributors take up topics related to their publication in periodicals, gender and community relationships, and narrative techniques. Taken together, the essays show that Hardy's short stories are important, not only for what they tell us about Hardy as a writer who straddles the divide between the traditionalist and the modernist, but also for how they reflect and inform the period in which he wrote.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part |2 pages

Part I Periodical publication

part |2 pages

Part II Gender relationships

part |2 pages

Part III Community relationships

chapter 6|18 pages

Hardy and humor: the mores of Wessex

ByJULIETTE BERNING SCHAEFER

chapter 7|18 pages

Love, deception, and disguise in A Few Crusted Characters

ByJOANNA STEPHENS MINK

part |2 pages

Part IV Narrative technique