Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Rambling Readers

English language

Published March 24, 2017 by Vintage.

ISBN:: 978-1-78487-315-8

(3 reviews)

An intimate portrait of a woman, one of literature's most admirable and tragic heroines...Tess Durbeyfield knows what it is to work hard and expect little. But her life is about to veer from the path trod by her mother and grandmother. When her ne'er-do-well father learns that his family is the last of a long noble line, the d'Urbervilles, he sends Tess on a journey to meet her supposed kin—a journey that will see her victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. Shaped by an acute sense of social injustice and by a vision of human fate cosmic in scope, her story is a singular blending of harsh realism and poignant beauty. Thomas Hardy created in Tess not a standard Victorian heroine but a woman whose intense vitality shines against the bleak backdrop of a dying way of life. The novel shocked contemporary readers with its honesty and remains a timeless …

An intimate portrait of a woman, one of literature's most admirable and tragic heroines...Tess Durbeyfield knows what it is to work hard and expect little. But her life is about to veer from the path trod by her mother and grandmother. When her ne'er-do-well father learns that his family is the last of a long noble line, the d'Urbervilles, he sends Tess on a journey to meet her supposed kin—a journey that will see her victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. Shaped by an acute sense of social injustice and by a vision of human fate cosmic in scope, her story is a singular blending of harsh realism and poignant beauty. Thomas Hardy created in Tess not a standard Victorian heroine but a woman whose intense vitality shines against the bleak backdrop of a dying way of life. The novel shocked contemporary readers with its honesty and remains a timeless commentary on the human condition.

43 editions

𝔦𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔳𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔰 reviewed Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Review of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

2022 review for Banned Books Week at my library: A beautifully-composed story of a woman in rural England striving against the unyielding social conventions of her time. As a character, Tess's relentless effort to simply live and love despite very difficult circumstances continues to inspire me.

Tess was censored during the process of publication and banned in several places on both sides of the Atlantic in the years following according to [b:120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature|9939234|120 Banned Books Censorship Histories of World Literature|Nicholas J. Karolides|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354672540l/9939234.SY75.jpg|363704].

2016 review: Tess was my first. This depressing and enchanting story of a woman in rural England struggling against 'a sea of troubles' was my introduction to Hardy, now my favorite author of fiction, through the excellent 2008 miniseries.

Tildã

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Feb 14

𝔦𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔳𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔰

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Jan. 1, 2011

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