The Mayor of Casterbridge (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

By Thomas Hardy and Phillip Lopate

The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
• Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
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All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.

 

Thomas Hardy’s first masterpiece, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a scene of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. A poor workman named Michael Henchard, in a fit of drunken rage, sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Stricken with remorse, Henchard forswears alcohol and works hard to become a prosperous businessman and the respected mayor of Casterbridge. But he cannot erase his past. His wife ultimately returns to offer Henchard the choice of redemption or a further descent into his own self-destructive nature. A dark, complex story, The Mayor of Casterbridge brims with invention, vitality, and even wit.

 

Phillip Lopate, a professor at Hofstra University in New York City, is best known as an essayist (“Bachelorhood,” “Against Joie De Vivre,” “Portrait of My Body”). He is the editor of the anthology Art of the Personal Essay and has written a novel, The Rug Merchant, and a book of poetry, The Daily Round.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Release date: Jun 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781411432666

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English poet and author who grew up in the British countryside, a setting that was prominent in much of his work as the fictional region named Wessex. Abandoning hopes of an academic future, he began to compose poetry as a young man. After failed attempts of publication, he successfully turned to prose. His major works include Far from the Madding Crowd(1874), Tess of the D’Urbervilles(1891) and Jude the Obscure( 1895), after which he returned to exclusively writing poetry.

Book preview

PREFACE

READERS OF THE FOLLOWING story who have not yet arrived at middle age are asked to bear in mind that, in the days recalled by the tale, the home Corn Trade, on which so much of the action turns, had an importance that can hardly be realized by those accustomed to the six-penny loaf of the present date, and to the present indifference of the public to harvest weather.

The incidents narrated arise mainly out of three events, which chanced to range themselves in the order and at or about the intervals of time here given, in the real history of the town called Casterbridge a and the neighbouring country. They were the sale of a wife by her husband, the uncertain harvests which immediately preceded the repeal of the Corn Laws,b and the visit of a Royal personagec to the aforesaid part of England.

The present edition of the volume, like the previous one, contains nearly a chapter which did not at first appear in any English copy, though it was printed in the serial issue of the tale, and in the American edition. The restoration was made at the instance of some good judges across the Atlantic, who strongly represented that the home edition suffered from the omission. Some shorter passages and names, omitted or altered for reasons which no longer exist, in the original printing of both English and American editions, have also been replaced or inserted.

The story is more particularly a study of one man’s deeds and character than, perhaps, any other of those included in my Exhibition of Wessex life. Objections have been raised to the Scotch language of Mr. Farfrae, the second character; and one of his fellow-countrymen went so far as to declare that men beyond the Tweed did not and never could say warrld, cannet, advairrtisment, and so on. As this gentleman’s pronunciation in correcting me seemed to my Southron ear an exact repetition of what my spelling implied, I was not struck with the truth of his remark, and somehow we did not get any forwarder in the matter. It must be remembered that the Scotchman of the tale is represented not as he would appear to other Scotchmen, but as he would appear to people of outer regions. Moreover, no attempt is made herein to reproduce his entire pronunciation phonetically, any more than that of the Wessex speakers. I should add, however, that this new edition of the book has had the accidental advantage of a critical overlooking by a professor of the tongue in question—one of undoubted authority:—in fact he is a gentleman who adopted it for urgent personal reasons in the first year of his existence.

Furthermore, a charming non-Scottish lady, of strict veracity and admitted penetration, the wife of a well-known Caledonian, came to the writer shortly after the story was first published, and inquired if Farfrae were not drawn from her husband, for he seemed to her to be the living portrait of that (doubtless) happy man. It happened that I had never thought of her husband in constructing Farfrae. I trust therefore that Farfrae may be allowed to pass, if not as a Scotchman to Scotchmen, as a Scotchman to Southerners.

The novel was first published complete, in two volumes, in May 1886.

T. H.

February 1895—May 1912.

I

ONE EVENING OF LATE summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot. They were plainly but not ill clad, though the thick hoar of dust which had accumulated on their shoes and garments from an obviously long journey lent a disadvantageous shabbiness to their appearance just now.

The man was of fine figure, swarthy, and stern in aspect; and he showed in profile a facial angle so slightly inclined as to be almost perpendicular. He wore a short jacket of brown corduroy, newer than the remainder of his suit, which was a fustiand waistcoat with white horn buttons, breeches of the same, tanned leggings, and a straw hat overlaid with black glazed canvas. At his back he carried by a looped strap a rush basket, from which protruded at one end the crutch of a hay-knife, a wimblee for hay-bonds being also visible in the aperture. His measured, springless walk was the walk of the skilled country-man as distinct from the desultory shamble of the general labourer; while in the turn and plant of each foot there was, further, a dogged and cynical indifference personal to himself, showing its presence even in the regularly interchanging fustian folds, now in the left leg, now in the right, as he paced along.

What was really peculiar, however, in this couple’s progress, and would have attracted the attention of any casual observer otherwise disposed to overlook them, was the perfect silence they preserved. They walked side by side in such a way as to suggest afar off the low, easy, confidential chat of people full of reciprocity; but on closer view it could be discerned that the man was reading, or pretending to read, a ballad sheetf which he kept before his eyes with some difficulty by the hand that was passed through the basket strap. Whether this apparent cause were the real cause, or whether it were an assumed one to escape an intercourse that would have been irksome to him, nobody but himself could have said precisely; but his taciturnity was unbroken, and the woman enjoyed no society whatever from his presence. Virtually she walked the highway alone, save for the child she bore. Sometimes the man’s bent elbow almost touched her shoulder, for she kept as close to his side as was possible without actual contact; but she seemed to have no idea of taking his arm, nor he of offering it; and far from exhibiting surprise at his ignoring silence she appeared to receive it as a natural thing. If any word at all were uttered by the little group, it was an occasional whisper of the woman to the child—a tiny girl in short clothes and blue boots of knitted yarn—and the murmured babble of the child in reply.

The chief—almost the only—attraction of the young woman’s face was its mobility. When she looked down sideways to the girl she became pretty, and even handsome, particularly that in the action her features caught slantwise the rays of the strongly coloured sun, which made transparencies of her eyelids and nostrils and set fire on her lips. When she plodded on in the shade of the hedge, silently thinking, she had the hard, half-apathetic expression of one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except, perhaps, fair play. The first phase was the work of Nature, the second probably of civilization.

That the man and woman were husband and wife, and the parents of the girl in arms, there could be little doubt. No other than such relationship would have accounted for the atmosphere of stale familiarity which the trio carried along with them like a nimbus as they moved down the road.

The wife mostly kept her eyes fixed ahead, though with little interest—the scene for that matter being one that might have been matched at almost any spot in any county in England at this time of the year; a road neither straight nor crooked, neither level nor hilly, bordered by hedges, trees, and other vegetation, which had entered the blackened-green stage of colour that the doomed leaves pass through on their way to dingy, and yellow, and red. The grassy margin of the bank, and the nearest hedgerow boughs, were powdered by the dust that had been stirred over them by hasty vehicles, the same dust as it lay on the road deadening their footfalls like a carpet; and this, with the aforesaid total absence of conversation, allowed every extraneous sound to be heard.

For a long time there was none, beyond the voice of a weak bird singing a trite old evening song that might doubtless have been heard on the hill at the same hour, and with the self-same trills, quavers, and breves, at any sunset of that season for centuries untold. But as they approached the village sundry distant shouts and rattles reached their ears from some elevated spot in that direction, as yet screened from view by foliage. When the outlying houses of Weydon-Priors could just be descried, the family group was met by a turnip-hoer with his hoe on his shoulder, and his dinner-bag suspended from it. The reader promptly glanced up.

Any trade doing here? he asked phlegmatically, designating the village in his van by a wave of the broadsheet. And thinking the labourer did not understand him, he added, Anything in the hay-trussing line?

The turnip-hoer had already begun shaking his head. Why, save the man, what wisdom’s in him that’ a should come to Weydon for a job of that sort this time O’ year?

Then is there any house to let—a little small new cottage just a builded, or such like? asked the other.

The pessimist still maintained a negative. Pulling down is more the nater of Weydon. There were five houses cleared away last year, and three this; and the volk nowhere to go—no, not so much as a thatched hurdle; that’s the way o’ Weydon-Priors.

The hay-trusser, which he obviously was, nodded with some superciliousness. Looking towards the village, he continued, There is something going on here, however, is there not?

Ay. ‘Tis Fair Day. Though what you hear now is little more than the clatter and scurry of getting away the money o’ children and fools, for the real business is done earlier than this. I’ve been working within sound o’t all day, but I didn’t go up—not I. ’Twas no business of mine.

The trusser and his family proceeded on their way, and soon entered the Fair-field, which showed standing-places and pens where many hundreds of horses and sheep had been exhibited and sold in the forenoon, but were now in great part taken away. At present, as their informant had observed, but little real business remained on hand, the chief being the sale by auction of a few inferior animals, that could not otherwise be disposed of, and had been absolutely refused by the better class of traders, who came and went early. Yet the crowd was denser now than during the morning hours, the frivolous contingent of visitors, including journeymen out for a holiday, a stray soldier or two come on furlough, village shopkeepers, and the like, having latterly flocked in; persons whose activities found a congenial field among the peep-shows, toy-stands, waxworks, inspired monsters, disinterested medical men who travelled for the public good, thimble-riggers, nick-nack vendors, and readers of Fate.

Neither of our pedestrians had much heart for these things, and they looked around for a refreshment tent among the many which dotted the down. Two, which stood nearest to them in the ochreous haze of expiring sunlight, seemed almost equally inviting. One was formed of new, milk-hued canvas, and bore red flags on its summit; it announced Good Home-brewed Beer, Ale, and Cyder. The other was less new; a little iron stove-pipe came out of it at the back, and in front appeared the placard, Good Furmity Sold Hear. The man mentally weighed the two inscriptions, and inclined to the former tent.

No—no—the other one, said the woman. I always like furmity; and so does Elizabeth-Jane; and so will you. It is nourishing after a long hard day.

I’ve never tasted it, said the man. However, he gave way to her representations, and they entered the furmity booth forthwith.

A rather numerous company appeared within, seated at the long narrow tables that ran down the tent on each side. At the upper end stood a stove, containing a charcoal fire, over which hung a large three-legged crock, sufficiently polished round the rim to show that it was made of bell-metal. A haggish creature of about fifty presided, in a white apron, which, as it threw an air of respectability over her as far as it extended, was made so wide as to reach nearly round her waist. She slowly stirred the contents of the pot. The dull scrape of her large spoon was audible throughout the tent as she thus kept from burning the mixture of corn in the grain, flour, milk, raisins, currants, and what not, that composed the antiquated slop in which she dealt. Vessels holding the separate ingredients stood on a white-clothed table of boards and trestles close by.

The young man and woman ordered a basin each of the mixture, steaming hot, and sat down to consume it at leisure. This was very well so far, for furmity, as the woman had said, was nourishing, and as proper a food as could be obtained within the four seas; though, to those not accustomed to it, the grains of wheat swollen as large as lemon-pips, which floated on its surface, might have a deterrent effect at first.

But there was more in that tent than met the cursory glance; and the man, with the instinct of a perverse character, scented it quickly. After a mincing attack on his bowl, he watched the hag’s proceedings from the corner of his eye, and saw the game she played. He winked to her, and passed up his basin in reply to her nod; when she took a bottle from under the table, slily measured out a quantity of its contents, and tipped the same into the man’s furmity. The liquor poured in was rum. The man as slily sent back money in payment.

He found the concoction, thus strongly laced, much more to his satisfaction than it had been in its natural state. His wife had observed the proceeding with much uneasiness; but he persuaded her to have hers laced also, and she agreed to a milder allowance after some misgiving.

The man finished his basin, and called for another, the rum being signalled for in yet stronger proportion. The effect of it was soon apparent in his manner, and his wife but too sadly perceived that in strenuously steering off the rocks of the licensed liquor-tent she had only got into maelstrom depths here amongst the smugglers. g

The child began to prattle impatiently, and the wife more than once said to her husband, Michael, how about our lodging? You know we may have trouble in getting it if we don’t go soon.

But he turned a deaf ear to those bird-like chirpings. He talked loud to the company. The child’s black eyes, after slow, round, ruminating gazes at the candles when they were lighted, fell together; then they opened, then shut again, and she slept.

At the end of the first basin the man had risen to serenity; at the second he was jovial; at the third, argumentative; at the fourth, the qualities signified by the shape of his face, the occasional clench of his mouth, and the fiery spark of his dark eye, began to tell in his conduct; he was overbearing—even brilliantly

Reviews for The Mayor of Casterbridge (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

[beauxarts79 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Michael Henchard is one of my favorite protagonists (second only to Thomas Sutpen, with John Yossarian a close third). A beautifully constructed and fully realized character.

[jon1lambert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is so much to enjoy in this book from the moment Henchard sells his wife for 5 guineas. The reader knows that this act will come back to haunt the hero as it does time and time again. It is a tragedy that there is a flaw in a make up of the hero. The deteriorating relationship between Henchard and Farfrae is excellent too, the wheel of fortune turning. The ending is stark and sad but expected. Its is just a brilliant book.

[paul9the9well9read · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The version of the book shown here is not the one I read, but my copy, with no notes, footnotes, or any other editing is so old that it does not show up on the GR profile. That being said, here is my review.
This is a great book. I have read and re-read three other Hardy classics, Tess, Madding Crowd, and Jude, but had not touched him for many years. (The copy of the book I read is copyright 1969 and cost $0.50!)
I regret not reading this earlier, but am very happy I was egged on to do it by a “Book Buddy” and have read it now.
The story of a man who “sells” his wife while in a drunken stupor moves through plot twists and turns worthy of anything I have ever read. The plot of this book is well and more fully described elsewhere, so I will not do it here, but I will go on to say a few other things about the book.
The selling of his wife becomes a huge shame and a deep secret of Michael Henchard, the man who later becomes a wealthy merchant and mayor of Casterbridge. Henchard’s is not the only secret, however, and others who have them find them to be prisons of their own making. Henchard as well as another major character named Lucetta fear the consequences of their secrets and lies so much that they allow them to rule their lives. In the end, the secrets, of course, are revealed, but the feared consequences have already taken place before that time.
Aside from Hardy’s brilliant handling of this theme of the impact guilt and shame on people’s lives, both the “guilty party” and those around them, he also deals with the very human foible of misinterpreting events and the motives of others. Those misinterpretations lead to huge difficulties throughout the novel, just as they do in real life. Each and every one of us has had the experience of interpreting something a person has said or done in ways the other person could not possibly have intended. The fact that this is so universal is why classic literature transcend time: they present universal unchanging truths.
Reading 19th century novels is often difficult. The authors rely upon vocabularies much richer than those used today and their writing styles are very formal, often difficult to read, usually seeming overly wordy, but the stories they write and the insights into human behavior they offer are worth the difficulty of wrestling through their style and diction.
As I read 19th century writers, I am always stuck by their deep understanding of human psychology, of social psychology and of human motivations and fears. It is probably so surprise that Sigmund Freud was a product of the 19th century, but for alll of his notoriety, his understanding of human psychology is no match for those of the novelists of his day.
I have often felt that the reading curriculum of university English Majors ought to also be the curricula of Psychology Majors.

[algybama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The urban setting makes this novel very different from the author's earlier work. There are fewer trees and hills to look upon, and so the plot takes precedence over description. The story moves quickly and smoothly, and only at times did I feel like Hardy was fast-forwarding through difficulties by using reported dialogue to cover complicated scenes that I think he wasn't up to actually writing. But that only happened once or twice. Otherwise the structure of the novel is sound and without many obvious flaws. The quality of the writing tended to diminish at around the 2/3 point, but it still ended well, as all the different strands came together.I didn't find the self-improvement scheme of Elizabeth to be all that realistically described, and I didn't think the character of Henchard to be all that well-realized - often relying on repeated details of his superstition, for example, to hammer home the point that he actually has character - but otherwise I found the unintentionally awful Farfrae to to be lovingly drawn, the moral ambivalence of the narrator to be effective, and for the overall tragedy to feel like it mattered.

[yhgail · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic. The truths revealed in this classic novel are haunting.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is beautifully written and is more of a character driven story than a plot driven. Henchard in a episode of drunkenness auctions of his wife and daughter. Takes a vow to never drink for 21 years to make amends for what he has done. He becomes a successful businessman and is made Mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Into his life enters a Scotsman that he loves, his wife and her daugher, Elizabeth-Jane. Of course there is also the "other woman". I especially enjoyed the first pictures that Hardy creates where we see the man, woman, child walking into the village, tired, with no place to lay their heads and rest. Love this quote, "one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except perhaps, fair play." "when I was rich, I didn't need what I could have hadand now I be poor I can't have what I need." "simple sorry is better than looming misery." Love how Hardy paints this picture of late summer/fall "...hedges, tress, and other vegetation, which had entered the blackened green stage of colour that this doomed leaves pass through on their way to dingy, and yellow, and red. I love observing nature and this just range so true to me. And the book arrived at the end of fall here in Minnesota. So very fitting picture. Hardy uses references to other literature, frequently using the Bible such as Jacob in Padan-Aran and excerpts from Greek mythology, Bellerophon. Austerliz (Napoleonic War), Character of fate - even sober Henchard is "vehement gloomy being who had quitted the ways of vulgar without the light to guide him on a better way." Henchard is a man who is isolated/lonely; he is separated from his wife by death, his friend by estrangement and his daughter by ignorance.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Mayor of Casterbridge rates 5 stars for all the compelling descriptions, yet only 4 for the plot which does tend to go on and revolve back around itself too many times.How welcome it would have been if young Elizabeth-Jane had just taken off back to the seaside to live with Captain Newsome until or if she decided to marry!That would have left her sad and deceitful ex-father and her tepid ex-love to sort life out between them.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first ever visit to Dorchester prompted me to read my first ever Thomas Hardy novel - very few other writers are so closely associated with a specific town or city; the fictional town in this novel's title is based very closely on Dorset's county town. I loved this novel, and will certainly be reading more Hardy. The plot is simple yet at the same time captivating and timeless. Michael Henchard, an itinerant farm labourer, while drunk one day sells his wife and baby daughter to a sailor at a fair. He wakes up sober and immediately regrets his choice, forswearing alcohol for 21 years and going off to search for them, but it is too late. The ramifications of this moment of madness ring throughout the years and affect Henchard's life and those of his family and others. This is a story about fortune's wheel and how it can bring one man up and cast another man down. Marvellous stuff, full of colourful incident and some quirky minor characters.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very readable and enjoyable story about the varied character of Henchard and Farfrae his reflection.

[siri51 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

was this like 'Home and Away' in its day? Flawed characters and much drama in their relationships and business dealings.Looking forward to visiting 'Hardy country' as this novel was certainly very evocative of place and time.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don’t entirely know how I got to my age without having read Thomas Hardy before. Quite probably it was because when I was about 14 years old, and we had a newfangled gadget called a Betamax Video Recorder, my Dad bought home Tess of the D’Urbervilles for us to watch - I found it unbearably dull and therefore assumed that Hardy’s novels would be too! I was quite wrong, because from the opening scenes I loved this and was totally engaged.

Under the influence of alcohol, and following a row, Henchard sells his wife at a country fair to a bidding sailor and the wife, Susan and their daughter leave with him. On waking the next day Henchard regrets his actions but is too late to take her back. He resolves not to drink again for the number of years he has been alive – 21 - and heads for the nearest town, Casterbridge, determined to make amends and to try to become a better person.

The story then jumps ahead 20 years and Henchard is now a successful hay merchant and the town’s mayor. He befriends a Scotsman who is passing through on his way to America and persuades him to stay on and work for him. But Henchard’s past soon catches up with him when his wife and daughter return, seeking him after the sailor’s death and the world that Henchard has built up starts crashing down.

I would definitely like to try some more Hardy – although I’m still not sure about Tess!

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not Hardy's best - some nice characterization, but contrived plot.Read Apr 2006

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mayor of Casterbridge is the wickedly funny and deeply affecting account of the train wreck that is Michael Henchard's life. Much of the humor comes from the Greek chorus like interludes in which some the the local lower class give their take on the doings if their "betters." Yet, this a tragedy of character. Henchard just can't seem not to hoist himself on every possible one of his petards, sometimes taking a somewhat innocent victim such as Lucetta with him. His combative sense of inferiority constantly eggs him into rivalry with both those seem such as Farfrae and unseen such as the sailor Newsome, Elizabeth Jane's father. His need to control and own people and things ultimately leaves him alone. All if the major characters are sympathetically drawn, finely shaded and colorful. The setting is splendidly golden. The honey hues of the stone, the grains, the sunlight wash over the story at times affecting a healing balm. The ancient ruins of Casterbridge underpin themes of wrongheaded malignant rivalry over vaunting pride, and plain old spitefulness as old as Hector and Achilles, Oedipus...you get the idea. Indeed, Henchard is a deeply flawed hero in the classical mode. There is never a dull moment in the Hardy's masterful treatment of his subject. This is just plain old good stuff. Fun, dramatic. cringe worthy, fascinating storytelling at its best.

[glorybe1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[edit]I loved this book, I am a complete convert to Thomas Hardy and am saddened to think I have left it this long before delving in! He has a wonderful way of painting a picture with his words! You all of a sudden can see exactly what he is saying even though the language is so unlike the way we would talk today, I love it!Henchard arrives in town with his wife and baby daughter with very little money and no job, After a very stupid drunken act he throws his and his families lives into a downward spiral that he never escapes. He moves to Casterbridge and over the years things seem to be on the up for him, but as I said he can never make right the mistake he made and he is to live a nightmare for what he did. A great story, very well thought out and written, a brilliant book.

[refice_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge as part of a summer reading program when I was about 15 years old . At that time I wasn’t much of a reader but the story stuck with me for 45 years! A voracious reader today, I rarely reread books (too many yet to read to waste time rereading), but decided ample time had passed to merit another go!Loved it the second time around too! Despite the cumbersome 19th century discourse, the narrative flows effortlessly from one sub-plot to the next, engaging the reader in much the same way a TV soap opera does for a viewer.And what soap opera! The drunkard Michael Henchard, having shamefully sold his wife and child to a sailor, turns his life around. Eighteen years later, just as he is about betroth his less than reputable girlfriend, who should show up but the abandoned wife and child. Henchard, now respectable, does the right thing and ‘marries’ her and truly seems to enjoy spoiling their lovely daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. Ah, but his happiness turns bitter when the wife dies and he finds a secret note confessing that Elizabeth-Jane is indeed the sailor’s progeny, their own offspring having died shortly after he deserted them. Feeling unloved, Elizabeth-Jane moves in with her step-father’s ex-girlfriend, Lucetta, whom she mistakenly believes is highborn. Lucetta, in the meantime has fallen for Henchard’s handsome, young protégé Mr. Farfrae, and whose affections she proceeds to steal from Elizabeth-Jane. Oh what a tangled web we weave!Need I go on? You get the picture! If you are in the mood for a classic, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a fun one even though the prose is far removed from 21st century vernacular.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

after reading Tess I was intrigued but careful curious. This book moved a long just fine. Lots of story lines. Believable action of characters. Women more independent than in Tess. But again, very very tragic.

[aarondesk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been wanting to finish this for quite a while and finally did it. What to make of it? It reads to me much like a soap opera with twists and turns of the social variety that prevent final resolution until the very end. However, I liked it.

[schmechi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thomas Hardy schildert den Werdegang von Michael Henchard vom armen, dem Alkohol zugeneigten Heubinder zum geachteten Mitglied der Gesellschaft, den schließlich die Schatten der Vergangenheit einholen. Er setzt dabei seine Figuren prächtig in Szene und entwickelt deren Charaktere in meisterhafter Weise. Greifbar wird auch die Athmosphäre der ländlichen Kleinstadt Casterbridge im frühviktorianischen England.Schwächen hingegen weist der Handlungsverlauf auf: Zu gekünstelt wirken die Wendungen, fast schon wie eine Seifenoper aus frühviktorianischer Zeit. Einerseits gelingt es Hardy dadurch zwar, eine stete Spannung aufzubauen und den Leser zu fesseln, andererseits verprellt er diesen auch durch allzu seichte und durchschaubare Handlungsknicke.Erwähnenswert ist auch das Glossar der Ausgabe, dass in lobenswerter Weise die zahlreichen Anspielungen Hardys auf die Literatur- und Kunstgeschichte sowie das alte Testament erläutert. In völlig unverständlicherweise Weise und entgegen der ansonsten tadellosen Übersetzung und der erwähnten Erläuterungen bleibt hingegen eines des Schlüsselereignisse des Romans, eine Schandparade zur öffentlichen Demütigung zweier Hauptprotagonisten, nicht nur unerläutert sondern auch unübersetzt ("Skimmity" bzw "Skimmington-Ritt"), was den grundsätzlich ausgezeichneten Eindruck, den die vorliegende Ausgabe macht, deutlich schmälert.

[alisony-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh Mr. Hardy - canst thou ever forgive me for doubting thee?The book is finished. My heart is sore. In my grief I can't bear to put it back on the bookshelf yet. Let it stay beside me on the bedside cabinet just a little while longer.How wrong was I in my original assessment of Hardy's prose. I wept whilst reading this book. WEPT! Real tears! And not just once either. Hardy initially cut to the chase with alarming alacrity, and it almost put me off continuing as I felt he had divulged the plot before I was engrossed enough to care much for the characters. More fool me. That was merely the tip of the iceberg, for the tale that developed was to have more twists and turns than a doorknob.And the characterisation - oh, like nothing I've read before. Mr. Henchard was the most unpleasant of protagonists - harsh, proud, stubborn, jealous, cold, pompous - yet the whole way through the novel I was rooting for him, willing him on, desperately hoping he'll say the right thing here, do the right thing there. In the same way that my husband's wayward driving compels me to pump an imaginary brake as a passenger, so too Henchard's repeated mistakes had me constantly silently screaming "Stop! Look out! Take care!".I'm now 5 books into my 50 book target. How I fear the 45 others shall now pale by comparison.

[benedict8-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such beautiful writing and an unusual story. There is simply no way to know how it will end so you know you have to finish quickly.

[la2bkk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A truly outstanding book, and perhaps my favorite work of 19th century British literature.The author's style is engaging, with interesting story lines and character development that flow seamlessly throughout. Mr. Hardy has that rare ability to capture the reader's attention and maintain it with wonderfully intertwined twists and turns that make for a compelling novel. Highly recommended.

[hovercraftofeels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Truly a triumph of Hardy's later works. Despite each of the main characters' personality flaws, one cannot help but become attached to their outcomes and trials. Hardy proves his mastery of the human condition in literature within the pages of this book, showing readers the perils of being obstinate, jealous, and vengeful. In contrast, readers are also shown how life can be nothing but misery for those who are meek and remain quiet when ill-treated. I do not agree that this is a parable regarding the evils of alcohol, as Michael Henchard, the main character, is not suffering because of his past drunkenness or due to the effects of remaining sober before returning to drink. This is a novel about human character and there is no teetotaller messages to be found. There really is not a dull moment throughout this novel and the parallels between the time periods are similar enough to keep even strictly anti-"Classics" readers entertained.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set almost entirely in a town, this novel seems to have fewer of Hardy's lyrical descriptive passages than other of his works I have read. The story reminded my of the Greek tragedies - despite all good intentions, the main character Michael Henchard is doomed by his very personality.

The book opens with Henchard getting drunk and selling his wife and child to a stranger. He regrets this once he sobers up but it is too late. Years later, when he has become successful & is mayor, his wife returns with her daughter. His life goes downhill from this point. Henchard's fiery temper and somewhat proud temperment lead him into situations that his better nature regrets every time it seems like he might get things going his way again. For example, his lie to the sailor Newsom about Elizabeth-Jane being dead is ridiculous (and he knows it) but he can't bear to admit to either the sailor or Elizabeth-Jane that he needs her.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was surprised how much I liked this book. Ok, it's a classic, the font is tiny, and it looked like a long hard read. The story is about Mr. Henchard, who in a drunken state, sells his wife and infant daughter. Twenty years later, the wife and daughter decide to look for him and discover that he has become so successful that he is the mayor of Casterbridge. Really interesting plot and great characters.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had to read this in senior English. It was OK. I'm not looking forward to reading more Hardy, much of which is in the 1000 Novels list along with annotations that detail the gloomy, twisted rural plotlines.

[kimmr_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Michael Henchard, who sells his wife and infant daughter for five guineas while drunk at a local fair. The consequences of this one impulsive action haunt his life thereafter. Henchard is a tragic figure, doomed not only by the character flaws of which he is only too aware, but also by a malignant, inescapable fate.

Hardy's writing is breathtaking. The novel is full of stunningly beautiful descriptive language. Hardy paints vivid pictures with words, bringing both characters and setting to life. It's a novel full of memorable characters. Henchard is the most striking, but in their quieter way Donald Farfarie, the Scotsman who wins and then loses Henchard's affection, the good and long-suffering Elizabeth-Jane and the complex Lucetta are also compelling, as are the secondary characters who form the chorus.

This is an intensely sad novel. It had the same effect on me as a Greek or a Shakespearean tragedy: you know it'll end badly, no matter how hard the characters try to avoid their fate. And I ached for Henchard, a man who desperately wants to find redemption, even when pride, arrogance, temper and impulsiveness undo him at every turn.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. He does a magnificient job, particularly with Henchard and Farfarie, although (in common with most male narrators) he struggles with young female voices.

It appears that I've turned into a huge Thomas Hardy fan after steafastly avoiding his novels for more than thirty years. Who'd have thought?

[laurenbdavis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books. Perhaps the greatest depiction of the repercussions of untreated alcoholism and the 'dry drunk' I've ever read. The faulty perceptions, the guilt, the grandiosity, the paranoia, the self-centeredness, the lies, the secrets, the horrible collateral damage, it's all here, as only Hardy could write it. I've read the book before, several times, but every time I read it I find a new layer. The depiction of the "Mayor" is heartbreaking, from beginning to end, a true tragedy in the sense he is never able to get out of his own way. It's a book I wish I'd written.

[mermind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second novel of Hardy's I have read this year. It is not as romantic as Far from the Madding Crowd, but it was an enjoyable read. Hardy has a reputation as somber, but although this is a novel of tragedy, a great man overcome by his own flaws, particularly pride, it was an exhilarating read. I loved Hardy as a poet before I appreciated his novels. His signature use of language combines the romantic, Victorian and modern in a way that is surprising and engaging. He has a sense of humor. His characters are types, but complex types, with contradictions that create a winding plot. The plot is not surprising. I would have to use the word "adumbration" multiple times in detailing the story's development. The romantic use of the fictional Wessex with its Roman ruins and its remnants of Druidic traditions holds huge appeal for me. The scale of the novel is not epic, it is intimate and compassionate.

[fiverivers_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the few Hardy novels I had not read. Certainly you see how Hardy was developing the skill that led him to produce Tess of the d'Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure. Fascinating how the themes of the open country of the moors counterpoint the microcosm of urban life in this novel, mirroring inner human nature and social convention. It's this use of geography that has, for me, been a hallmark of Hardy's work, and certainly a major influence upon my own writing.Once again I was impressed by Hardy's modern approach to writing, employing deep character development and dark, socially unacceptable themes for the period. In this case the narrative explores an alcoholic's cruel treatment of his wife and daughter, his attempt to redeem himself only to find himself incapable of rising above his baser nature. It is a mark of Hardy's writing skill that the reader both loves and despises the character of Henchard, so that in the end Hardy presents a pitiable wretch for whom we are capable of weeping.As a side note, the film adaptation of The Mayor of Casterbridge with Ciaran Hines as main character, Michael Henchard, is a faithful reproduction of the novel, beautifully produced, impeccable costuming, and well worth seeing.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

his is only the second Hardy book that I have read and the other one was at least 40 years ago when I was in high school (Tess of the D'Ubervilles). I wanted to read more by Hardy so I talked our book club into reading this book. I thought it was great. The title character did something horrible when he was young but has since become a successful businessman and the leader of his community. Then his past has to be confronted and a series of events that leads to his downfall is set into motion. Hardy paints him as a very complex character, one you despise in one chapter and then feel sorry for in the next. The secondary characters are richly drawn and the description of life in this period is full of colour.Highly recommended.