Thomas Hardy, Femininity and Dissent: Reassessing the Minor Novels

Drawing on aspects of Foucauldian feminist theory, this book offers original and detailed readings of six critically under-valued novels: Desperate Remedies, A Pair of Blue Eyes, The Hand of Ethelberta, A Laodicean, Two on a Tower and The Well-Beloved. The book demonstrates Hardy's peculiarly modern appreciation of how individuals negotiate the forces which shape their sense of self. Tracing his interest in the Evolutionary debate and the Woman Question, Jane Thomas reveals a new politically engaged rather than grimly pessimistic Hardy.