Bøker av Thomas Hardy

¿The greatest tragic writer among English novelists.¿-Virginia Woolf¿There is no other novelist alive with the breadth of sympathy, the knowledge or the power for the creation of Jude." ¿H. G. WellsJude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature. Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background. His childhood schoolmaster has moved away from the village to teach at the University in Christminster. Jude spends his free time self-educating himself with the aspirations of enrolling at Christminster, yet his dreams are thwarted when he falls in love with Arabella, a loutish and deceptive young woman who lures him into a disastrous marriage. After abandoning each other, Jude returns to his dream of becoming a scholar; he moves to Christminster, where he falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead, and subsequently abandons all hope of academia. An intricate web of darkness ensues when Arabella returns into his life with a troubled son, who she informs is Jude¿s. Trapped in an uncontrollable descent, Jude¿s fate delivers him unspeakable tragedy. Jude The Obscure is one of literature's great works that explore the alienation and intricacies of man¿s place in the world. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jude the Obscure is both modern and readable.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series. Please note that the eBook edition does NOT include access to the audio edition and digital book. Written for learners of English as a foreign language, each title includes carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Tess of the D'Urbervilles, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteRegister to access online resources including tests, worksheets and answer keys. Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock a digital book and audio edition (not available with the eBook).When Jack and Joan Durbeyfield learn that their ancestors were the d'Urbervilles - a rich and well-known family - they hope it will make their lives better. They send their eldest daughter, Tess, to introduce herself to some "e;relatives"e;. There, Tess meets Alec d'Urberville, who immediately notices her beauty. The terrible event that follows changes her life forever.

A tale of love, seduction and betrayal.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...rendered him less desirable as a husband than she had at first thought him to be.' 'I cannot answer, ' said Elizabeth-Jane thoughtfully. 'It is so difficult. It wants a Pope to settle that!' 'You prefer not to, perhaps?' Lucetta showed in her appealing tone how much she leant on Elizabeth's judgment. 'Yes, Miss Templeman, ' admitted Elizabeth. 'I would rather not say.' Nevertheless, Lucetta seemed relieved by the simple fact of having opened out the situation a little, and was slowly convalescent of her headache. 'Bring me a looking-glass. How do I appear to people?' she said languidly. 'Well--a little worn, ' answered Elizabeth, eyeing her as a critic eyes a doubtful painting; fetching the glass she enabled Lucetta to survey herself in it, which Lucetta anxiously did. 'I wonder if I wear well, as times go!' she observed after a while. 'Yes--fairly. 'Where am I worst?' 'Under your eyes--I notice a little brownness there.' 'Yes. That is my worst place, I know. How many years more do you think I shall last before I get hopelessly plain?' There was something curious in the way in which Elizabeth, though the younger, had come to play the part of experienced sage in these discussions. 'It may be five years, ' she said judicially. 'Or, with a quiet life, as many as ten. With no love you might calculate on ten.' Lucetta seemed to reflect on this as on an unalterable, impartial verdict. She told Elizabeth-Jane no more of the past attachment she had roughly adumbrated as the experiences of a third person; and Elizabeth, who in spite of her philosophy was very tender-hearted, wept that night in bed at the thought that her pretty, rich Lucetta did not treat her to the full confidence of names and dates in her confessions. For by the 'she' of Lucetta's story...

This is the first complete scholarly edition of one of Hardy's greatest novels. The Return of the Native engages ambitiously with contemporary ideas and problems of existence, and would go on to become one of the major 'Wessex novels'. When composed in 1878, however, Hardy's Wessex did not yet exist, and this edition, which is based on meticulous analysis of Hardy's holograph manuscript and every significant print edition of the novel to appear in his lifetime, situates The Return of the Native within the historical context of its first publication, encouraging readers to trace its evolution over the following four decades. Tim Dolin provides a wealth of supporting materials, including an original, authoritative text, comprehensive annotation, commentary and glossary, and illustrated appendices of both Arthur Hopkins's illustrations and the topography of Egdon Heath, thus creating an invaluable tool for students and scholars of Hardy and nineteenth-century literature alike.