Tess of Th D'Urbervilles (Pbk)(Oop)

by Harold Bloom

Book Overview

-- Presents concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work -- Provides multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791041069
• ISBN13: 9780791041062
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 13 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 10

Customer Reviews

Mum's the word, says Victorian novelist.

A question that often appears in agony aunt columns relates to the age old dilemma of telling, or not telling, your spouse about an affair with another. Hardy comes down firmly on the side of keeping it quiet. Tess, with excellent intentions, but misguidedly, spills the beans and comes to a sticky end. As her mother says, she is a 'little fool', though a very disingenuous one, to be sure. But there is much more to this book than that.I first read this book about 40 years ago and have revisited it a few times. It is an immensely powerful, brilliantly written, witty, devastating critique of Victorian morality, religion, and sexual hypocrisy that even today is immensely moving.If Hardy has a weakness, it is in the plotting of his novels, and you have to admit that perhaps there are one too many coincidences, but this is a small quibble. This is one of the greatest of all novels. To me it is right up there with Anna Karenina, so I have to give it five stars.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

This book has touched me in a very different way than many others have. It is a tragic story and envelopes the reader in a different kind of sadness - a sadness which one cannot pull out of quickly or just draw aside. Many thoughts contained in this book are worthy of reflection. Each lingers in your heart. The happy moments are all tinged with a bitter taste. Each character is flawed as a natural human being and each mistake they make reflects on their future and affects them drastically. Tess Durbeyfield is one of the most tragic characters I have ever read of. From the moment she leaves her home to the supposed D'Urberville relatives, she is pushed into catastrophes and heartaches that just lead to more doom. I recommend this book to any reader who is willing to undergo the myriad of emotions that accompanies Tess's journey through demise. It is not for the flippant, unconcerned, and unsympathetic reader. Everything that happens to Tess happens for a reason, and the reader must be able to realize how each affects her to appreciate this book. Read this book and expect to ponder on many philosophical wonderings. This book WILL affect you! It is worthy of any person seeking a deep and life-affecting novel.

Simply Brilliant

Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the best stories I've ever read. Its characters, especially Tess herself, are so alive and memorable that they stay in your mind long after you've finished the book. That being said, though, it's also not a novel for the casual reader. This book is so thought-provoking and, ultimately, heartbraking that it can't be easily forgotten, and will more than likely leave you with an overwhelming sadness for a long time afterward. I read a lot, and material with very different subject matters, so I'm not being melodramatic when I say that this book left me extremely choked up, and almost on the verge of tears. For a guy in his mid-20's who never gets emotional, I think that's saying quite a lot. It certainly left me with a lot of respect for the author. The reader comes to care so much about Tess, and agonize over the way her life turns out, that it becomes almost unbearable at times. For a fictional tale to have that effect on a person is quite incredible. Difficult or not, anyone who is interested in reading a brilliant and moving story that deserves to be called a classic should read Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Place and time

I was supposed to read this book 25 or so years ago in high school. It was heavy going, and pretty meaningless to me at the time. It has come to be one of my favourite books, and I have read it more than once. The thing about hardy is that the sense of place, and time is so evocative. I have lived as an adult in Dorset - hardy Country, and recognise many of the locales he writes so beautifully about. More astounding is that some of the social mores and economic system ( indentured labour, tied villages) still exist. Like Dickens, coincidence plays a heavy hand in Hardy's plot development, a contrivance that is a little agitating to the modern, more cynical reader. Still, I find it entiely appropriate to an era when people were most often trapped in a life dictated by circumstance, when free will didn't play nearly as large a part as it does now, in a Britain where there was no place for a meritocracy, class and social station being everything. Some vestiges of that are still very evident in English life (Royalty representing the apex of the class system). Tess is a classic, well worth the effort on a number of levels - the rhythm of language, and what it says about its time and place.

Haunting and heartbreaking

I'm many years out of college and thought I should start reading some more of the classics. Previous favorites of mine have been The Sound and the Fury, Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice. I saw Tess of the D'Urbervilles on my sister's bookshelf and for about a year I considered reading it. Finally, I picked it up and began. Wow! I read it in about three days. I never expected I would feel so much by reading this book. I cried when she baptized Sorrow herself. Her concerns that he be buried in the churchyard and her efforts to ensure he was were touching. I wanted to help Tess Durbeyfield. I thought she was a very complex character--she was sweet and unworldly but she wasn't actually stupid. And she was strong in many ways--for example, her family relied on Tess for so many things--eventually even their support. In fact, I hated her family for not working harder and making their own sacrifices. All the burden was on poor Tess. I also wanted to shake some sense into Angel. He really did wrong by Tess--although he eventually realizes this, it comes too late. The only thing I really did not care for was the sudden inclusion of a minor character (who we met earlier)into the end of the book and the implication that she would play an important role in the future of a major character. I barely knew this minor character and NOBODY could compare to Tess of the D'Urbervilles. If you are reading this to find a good book, ignore the negative reviews by high-school students and buy this book NOW. It's unforgettable.