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Far from the Maddening Crowd

by Thomas Hardy


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Hardy's first major novel tells the story of the shepherd Gabriel Oak and his long, patient devotion to Bathsheba Everdene. Bathsheba's faithless husband is murdered by a neighboring farmer, William Bellwood, who also loves her. At the end of a traumatic series of events, Bathsheba turns to Gabriel at last, valuing his honesty and integrity. Like Hardy's later novels, this one is characterized by coincidence, melodrama, and a degree of improbability. It also emphasizes the role of natural forces--the earth and the rhythms of rural life--all of which are personified in Gabriel Oak. The novel is less bleak and unforgiving than the later works, and is remarkable for its insight into the complexities of character, particularly that of the many-faceted Bathsheba.


Available editions of Far from the Maddening Crowd

9780451528568 9780451528568, Paperback, Signet Classic, 2002

$3.00 (New )

Other copies of 9780451528568
   
9780613529570 9780613529570, Prebinding, Bt Bound, 2002

None currently available
   

Publisher Notes

After an unfortunate marriage to Sergeant Troy and an affair with Farmer Boldwood, Bathsheba Everdene finally becomes the wife of the man who has always loved her, in an authoritative edition of the uncensored 1912 text. Reprint.

Media Reviews

"The most genuine thing in his book...is a certain aroma of the meadows and lanes--a natural relish for harvesting and sheep-washings."

First Line

When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun.

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