A tragic tale of cruel fates, touching on rape, illegitimate birth and murder, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" (1891) shocked its early audiences, but has proved to be one of the most enduring and influential works of English literature. This sourcebook offers an introduction to Thomas Hardy's crucial novel, offering:
*A contextual overview, a chronology and reprinted contemporary documents, including a selection of Hardy's poems
*An overview of the book's early reception and recent critical fortunes, as well as a wide range of reprinted extracts from critical works
Key passages from the novel, reprinted with editorial comment and cross-referenced within the volume to bring contextual and critical issues to bear on the reader's own interpretation of the text
*Suggestions for further reading and a list of relevant web resources.
For students on a wide range of courses, this sourcebook offers the essential stepping-stone from a basic reading knowledge to an advanced understanding of Hardy's best-known novel.

This sourcebook offers an introduction to Thomas Hardy's crucial novel, offering:

• a contextual overview, a chronology and reprinted contemporary documents, including a selection of Hardy's poems
• an overview of the book's early reception and recent critical fortunes, as well as a wide range of reprinted extracts from critical works
• key passages from the novel, reprinted with editorial comment and cross-referenced within the volume to contextual and critical documents
• suggestions for further reading and a list of relevant web resources.

For students on a wide range of courses, this sourcebook offers the essential stepping-stone from a basic reading knowledge to an advanced understanding of Hardy's best-known novel.

John Clare (1793-1864) has long been recognized as one of England's foremost poets of nature, landscape and rural life. Scholars and general readers alike regard his tremendous creative output as a testament to a probing and powerful intellect. Clare was that rare amalgam - a poet who wrote from a working-class, impoverished background, who was steeped in folk and ballad culture, and who yet, against all social expectations and prejudices, read and wrote himself into a grand literary tradition. All the while he maintained a determined sense of his own commitments to the poor, to natural history and to the local. Through the diverse approaches of ten scholars, this collection shows how Clare's many angles of critical vision illuminate current understandings of environmental ethics, aesthetics, Romantic and Victorian literary history, and the nature of work.

John Clare (1793-1864) has long been recognized as one of England's foremost poets of nature, landscape and rural life. Scholars and general readers alike regard his tremendous creative output as a testament to a probing and powerful intellect. Clare was that rare amalgam - a poet who wrote from a working-class, impoverished background, who was steeped in folk and ballad culture, and who yet, against all social expectations and prejudices, read and wrote himself into a grand literary tradition. All the while he maintained a determined sense of his own commitments to the poor, to natural history and to the local. Through the diverse approaches of ten scholars, this collection shows how Clare's many angles of critical vision illuminate current understandings of environmental ethics, aesthetics, Romantic and Victorian literary history, and the nature of work.