The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved and the Well-Beloved (Penguin

The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved and the Well-Beloved (Penguin Classics)

InÂ The Pursuit of the Well-BelovedÂ (1892) andÂ The Well-BelovedÂ (1897), Hardy writes two different versions of a strange story set in the weird landscape of Portland.The central figure is a man obsessed both with the search for his ideal woman and with sculpting the perfect figure of a naked Aphrodite. The pursuit finally fixes on three women called Avice Caroâ€”grandmother, mother and daughterâ€”in a way that mixes tragedy and high farce.

The books were written one before and one after his "last" novel,Â Jude the ObscureÂ (1895). Both stories are richly ambiguous but the first shows the successful exercise of masculine power and the second shows women triumphant. The double work, coming at the end of Hardy's long career as a novelist, anticipates modernist writing by offering not merely alternative endings but alternative plots. This edition is the first to provide both separate texts and separate commentaries.
In her introduction, Patricia Ingham explores Hardy's preoccupation with contingency and 'might-have-beens' in female-male relationships.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Â titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theÂ series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateÂ translations by award-winning translators.
Country USA
Manufacturer Penguin Classics
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780140435191
Model 9780140435191
ReleaseDate 1998-04-01
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780140435191

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Penguin Classics
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9780140435191
Model	9780140435191
ReleaseDate	1998-04-01
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780140435191

The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved and the Well-Beloved (Penguin Classics)

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