Return Of The Native Illustrated Edition

The Return of The Native

One of Thomas Hardy's most powerful works, The Return of the Native centers famously on Egdon Heath, the wild, haunted Wessex moor that D. H. Lawrence called 'the real stuff of tragedy.' The heath's changing face mirrors the fortunes of the farmers, inn-keepers, sons, mothers, and lovers who populate the novel. The 'native' is Clym Yeobright, who comes home from a cosmopolitan life in Paris. He; his cousin Thomasin; her fiancé, Damon Wildeve; and the willful Eustacia Vye are the protagonists in a tale of doomed love, passion, alienation, and melancholy as Hardy brilliantly explores that theme so familiar throughout his fiction: the diabolical role of chance in determining the course of a life.

One of Thomas Hardy's most powerful works, The Return of the Native centers famously on Egdon Heath, the wild, haunted Wessex moor that D. H. Lawrence called 'the real stuff of tragedy.' The heath's changing face mirrors the fortunes of the farmers, inn-keepers, sons, mothers, and lovers who populate the novel. The 'native' is Clym Yeobright, who comes home from a cosmopolitan life in Paris. He; his cousin Thomasin; her fiancé, Damon Wildeve; and the willful Eustacia Vye are the protagonists in a tale of doomed love, passion, alienation, and melancholy as Hardy brilliantly explores that theme so familiar throughout his fiction: the diabolical role of chance in determining the course of a life.

One of Thomas Hardy's most powerful works, The Return of the Native centers famously on Egdon Heath, the wild, haunted Wessex moor that D. H. Lawrence called 'the real stuff of tragedy.' The heath's changing face mirrors the fortunes of the farmers, inn-keepers, sons, mothers, and lovers who populate the novel. The 'native' is Clym Yeobright, who comes home from a cosmopolitan life in Paris. He; his cousin Thomasin; her fiancé, Damon Wildeve; and the willful Eustacia Vye are the protagonists in a tale of doomed love, passion, alienation, and melancholy as Hardy brilliantly explores that theme so familiar throughout his fiction: the diabolical role of chance in determining the course of a life.

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy The Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly installments from January to December 1878. Because of the novel's controversial themes, Hardy had some difficulty finding a publisher; reviews, however, though somewhat mixed, were generally positive. In the twentieth century, The Return of the Native became one of Hardy's most popular novels. The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath, and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses, covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy Fawkes Night as Diggory Venn is slowly crossing the heath with his van, which is being drawn by ponies. In his van is a passenger. When darkness falls, the country folk light bonfires on the surrounding hills, emphasising--not for the last time--the pagan spirit of the heath and its denizens.

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was an English novelist and poet. «The Return of the Native» illustrates the tragic potential of romantic illusion and how its protagonists fail to recognize their opportunities to control their own destinies. Tempestuous Eustacia Vye passes her days dreaming of passionate love and the escape it may bring from the small community of Egdon Heath. Hearing that Clym Yeobright is to return from Paris, she sets her heart on marrying him, believing that through him she can leave rural life and fi nd fulfi lment elsewhere. But Clym has dreams of his own, and they have little in common with Eustacia’s. Their unhappy marriage causes havoc in the lives of those close to them: Damon Wildeve, Eustacia’s former lover, Clym’s mother and his cousin Thomasin.

The Return of the Native was a radical departure for Thomas Hardy, ushering in his tragic literary vision of the world. Though set in a small space (Egdon Heath in the fictional county of Wessex) and short time (the main action spans a year and a day), the novel addresses the broad social and intellectual upheavals of the Victorian age. Much of this turmoil is embodied in the character of Eustacia Vye, the novel’s wilful female protagonist. A complex, independent young woman, Eustacia is a sympathetic but ultimately tragic figure, the epitome of what the narrator calls the “irrepressible New.” The appendices to this Broadview edition place the novel in the context of Hardy’s career and the scientific and social ideas of the time. Documents include contemporary reviews, related writings by Hardy, and materials on biology, geology, and the “Woman Question.” Illustrations from the original serialization in Belgravia magazine and Hardy’s performance text of the mummers’ play are also included.