A Pair of Blue Eyes (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Collection) - Softcover

Thomas Hardy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853262773 ISBN 13: 9781853262777

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex. A Pair of Blue Eyes, though early in the sequence of Hardy's novels, is lively and gripping. Its dramatic cliff-hanging episode, for example, is at once tense, ironic, feministic and erotic. With settings in Wessex and London, the novel also has some strongly autobiographical features, as the blue-eyed heroine, Elfride Swancourt, is based largely on Emma Gifford, who became Thomas Hardy s first wife. Elfride's vivacious nature attracts several lovers, but she is beset by sexual prejudice, and the ensuing ironies reveal the constraints of her times. A Pair of Blue Eyes provides an engaging and moving experience for today s readers.

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) had a writing career which spanned more than fifty years, and he is now considered both a major novelist and poet. His tales of Wessex, a fictional amalgamation of various south-west counties, have a lasting appeal, and many, such as 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' have become popular television adaptations.

Review:

`What a joy it is to find World's Classics according to `new edition' status to that gentle romantic tale, A Pair of Blue Eyes, our enjoyment of which is enhanced by the editing and fine general and textual introductions by Alan Manford, whose knowledge and enthusiasm conspire to urge a revaluation of a novel which deserves a much wider readership.' --Thomas Hardy Annual. No 5

`A Pair Of Blue Eyes has a vivacity that makes the Great Works appear the lumbering heavy-weights they are.' --Andrew Cowan, The Sunday Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1853262773
• ISBN 13: 9781853262777
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320