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Far from the Madding Crowd

by Thomas HARDY (1840 - 1928)

10 - Mistress and Men

Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and offers in ample measure the details of English rural life that Hardy so relished. Hardy's growing taste for tragedy is also evident in the novel. It first appeared, anonymously, as a monthly magazine serial, where it gained a wide readership and critical acclaim. According to Virginia Woolf, "The subject was right; the method was right; the poet and the countryman, the sensual man, the sombre reflective man, the man of learning, all enlisted to produce a book which . . . must hold its place among the great English novels." The book is often regarded as an early piece of feminist literature, since it features an independent woman with the courage to defy convention by running a farm herself. Although Bathsheba's passionate nature leads her into serious errors of judgment, Hardy endows her with sufficient resilience, intelligence, and good luck to overcome her youthful folly.

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Listen next episodes of Far from the Madding Crowd:
11 - Outside the Barracks--Snow--A Meeting , 12 - Farmers--A Rule--An Exception , 13 - Sortes Sanctorum--The Valentine , 14 - Effect of the Letter--Sunrise , 15 - A Morning Meeting--The Letter Again , 16 - All Saints' and All Souls' , 17 - In the Market-Place , 18 - Boldwood in Meditation--Regret , 19 - The Sheep-Washing--The Offer , 20 - Perplexity--Grinding the Shears--A Quarrel , 21 - Troubles in the Fold--A Message , 22 - The Great Barn and the Sheep-Shearers , 23 - Eventide--A Second Declaration , 24 - The Same Night--The Fir Plantation , 25 - The New Acquaintance Described , 26 - Scene on the Verge of the Hay-Mead , 27 - Hiving the Bees , 28 - The Hollow Amid the Ferns , 29 - Particulars of a Twilight Walk , 30 - Hot Cheeks and Tearful Eyes , 31 - Blame--Fury , 32 - Night--Horses Tramping , 33 - In the Sun--A Harbinger , 34 - Home Again--A Trickster , 35 - At an Upper Window , 36 - Wealth in Jeopardy--The Revel , 37 - The Storm--The Two Together , 38 - Rain--One Solitary Meets Another , 39 - Coming Home--A Cry , 40 - On Casterbridge Highway , 41 - Suspicion--Fanny Is Sent For , 42 - Joseph and His Burden--Buck's Head , 43 - Fanny's Revenge , 44 - Under a Tree--Reaction , 45 - Troy's Romanticism , 46 - The Gurgoyle: Its Doings , 47 - Adventures by the Shore , 48 - Doubts Arise--Doubts Linger , 49 - Oak's Advancement--A Great Hope , 50 - The Sheep Fair--Troy Touches His Wife's Hand , 51 - Bathsheba Talks with Her Outrider , 52 - Converging Courses , 53 - Concurritur--Horae Momento , 54 - After the Shock , 55 - The March Following--"Bathsheba Boldwood" , 56 - Beauty in Loneliness--After All , 57 - A Foggy Night and Morning--Conclusion