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The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Jeffrey Meyers, Jane Smiley

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ISBN: 0451531124
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: December 2008
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Comments from the Seller: Brand new item. Over 6 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: U20090909144237G

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Synopsis

The Return of the Native may be Thomas Hardy’s finest writing. His descriptive and lyrical powers are at their height, his evocation of the wilds of Egdon Heath unmatched, his dissection of Eustacia and Clym’s marriage unimpeachable. Perhaps nowhere else is Hardy’s point that the universe is simply indifferent more compellingly made. Winner of the British Spoken Word Publishing Association’s “Talkie Award” for Best Unabridged Classic Recording, this performance was commended by the Financial Times as “right for this tragic story of passion and loss.”

Booknews

A collection of Hardy's poetry and non-fiction prose, containing some 200 of his familiar and less-familiar shorter poems organized by theme, as well as Hardy's own prefaces to volumes of his poems, and his essays on fiction, on the "Dorsetshire laborer," and on an 18th- century execution. Includes explanatory notes, and a brief overview of Hardy's life and work. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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Biography

Simon Gatrell is Professor of English at the University of Georgia. Nancy Barrineau is Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Margaret R. Higonnet is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

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Ratings: 13Reviews: 9
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Well worth listening toby Anonymous

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02/23/2009: I actually purchased this on CD for the sole reason that it was narrated by Alan Rickman. He has a marvelous voice. I didn't know much about the story but was drawn in by his portrayal of the many characters in the story. The voices he uses for each character are unique and I knew which character he was speaking as when listening to the story.

The first chapter, might put people off as it describes Egdon Heath in great detail. I listened to it twice as it was confusing. Once the human characters entered the scene, it just drew me in.

Hardy writes with much detail in this story. I felt I knew and understood the characters and miss them now that the story has concluded.

I would hope that Alan Rickman reads another book - makes it all the better!

Surprisingly goodby Anonymous

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08/29/2008: You'd expect Hardy to be something English students have to suffer through, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A pleasant surprise. Eustacia and Clym are far from the stereotypical repressed Englishfolk. I actually related to this and it was surprisingly suspenseful!

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Table of Contents
Reading Group Guide
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Book 1	The Three Women
I.	A Face on Which Time Makes But Little Impression	1
II.	Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble	4
III.	The Custom of the Country	9
IV.	The Halt on the Turnpike Road	25
V.	Perplexity among Honest People	29
VI.	The Figure against the Sky	39
VII.	Queen of Night	49
VIII.	Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody	54
IX.	Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy	58
X.	A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion	65
XI.	The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman	72
Book 2	The Arrival
I.	Tidings of the Comer	79
II.	The People at Blooms-End Make Ready	83
III.	How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream	86
IV.	Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure	89
V.	Through the Moonlight	97
VI.	The Two Stand Face to Face	102
VII.	A Coalition Between Beauty and Oddness	111
VIII.	Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart	118
Book 3	The Fascination
I.	"My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is"	127
II.	The New Course Causes Disappointment	131
III.	The First Act in a Timeworn Drama	137
IV.	An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness	148
V.	Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues	154
VI.	Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete	159
VII.	The Morning and the Evening of a Day	165
VIII.	A New Force Disturbs the Current	175
Book 4	The Closed Door
I.	The Rencounter by the Pool	183
II.	He Is Set upon by Adversities; But He Sings a Song	188
III.	She Goes Out to Battle Against Depression	196
IV.	Rough Coercion Is Employed	205
V.	The Journey Across the Health	211
VI.	A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian	214
VII.	The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends	222
VIII.	Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune and Beholds Evil	228
Book 5	The Discovery
I.	"Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery"	235
II.	A Lurid Light Breaks in Upon a Darkened Understanding	241
III.	Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning	248
IV.	The Ministrations of a Half-Forgotten One	254
V.	An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated	258
VI.	Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter	263
VII.	The Night of the Sixth of November	268
VIII.	Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers	274
IX.	Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together	282
Book 6	Aftercourses
I.	The Inevitable Movement Onward	291
II.	Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road	298
III.	The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin	300
IV.	Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation	304

Reading Group Guide

1. What does Egdon Heath symbolize to you? How does each character relate to the heath? To what extent does the landscape control the actions of the characters or influence them? How do the characters resist or succumb to the landscape? What is the role of urban life in the novel?

2. Discuss Clym's spiritual odyssey. How does it shed light on Hardy's concerns in the novel? Would you describe Clym as idealistic? How does his attitude compare to that of the people of Egdon Heath or that of Eustacia?

3. Why does Eustacia hate Egdon Heath? Is she too headstrong? How much control does Eustacia have over events that shape her life? Over the lives of others? Do you think Eustacia symbolizes human limitation or potential? Do you think her death is a reconciliation of sorts, or not?

4. Discuss the role of fate or chance in the novel. Is Hardy sympathetic to the victims of chance in this novel? To what extent are events caused by the force of a character's personality (e. g., Eustacia), rather than by chance? To what extent do actions produce results opposite from that desired? Do you think there is a connection between this use of irony and the role of fate in the novel?

5. Discuss the novel's opening scene, in which Hardy describes Egdon Heath. How does this establish the emotional tone of the book? How does it foreshadow the action within the novel?

6. Why is Eustacia interested in Clym? How does this set the wheels of the plot in motion? How does this affect the other characters, like Thomasin and particularly Clym's mother? What is Wildeve's role in Mrs. Yeobright's fate?

Read an Excerpt

A SATURDAY afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment. Overhead the hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a tent which had the whole heath for its floor.

The heaven being spread with this pallid screen and the earth with the darkest vegetation, their meeting-line at the horizon was clearly marked. In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an instalment of night which had taken up its place before its astronomical hour was come: darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon, while day stood distinct in the sky. Looking upwards, a furze-cutter would have been inclined to continue work; looking down, he would have decided to finish his faggot and go home. The distant rims of the world and of the firmament seemed to be a division in time no less than a division in matter. The face of the heath by its mere complexion added half an hour to evening; it could in like manner retard the dawn, sadden noon, anticipate the frowning of storms scarcely generated, and intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause of shaking dread.

In fact, precisely at this transitional point of its nightly roll into darkness the great and particular glory of the Egdon waste began, and nobody could be said to understand the heath who had not been there at such a time. It could best be felt when it could not clearly be seen, its complete effect and explanation lying in this and the succeeding hours before the next dawn: then, and only then, did it tell its true tale. The spot was, indeed, a near relation of night, and when night showed itself anapparent tendency to gravitate together could be perceived in its shades and the scene. The sombre stretch of rounds and hollows seemed to rise and meet the evening gloom in pure sympathy, the heath exhaling darkness as rapidly as the heavens precipitated it. And so the obscurity in the air and the obscurity in the land closed together in a black fraternization towards which each advanced half-way.

The place became full of a watchful intentness now; for when other things sank brooding to sleep the heath appeared slowly to awake and listen. Every night its Titanic form seemed to await something; but it had waited thus, unmoved, during so many centuries, through the crises of so many things, that it could only be imagined to await one last crisis—the final overthrow.

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Jeffrey Meyers, Jane Smiley

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Well worth listening toby Anonymous

Surprisingly goodby Anonymous

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