Thomas Hardy: Selected Short Stories

by Thomas Hardy, Jill Masters (Narrator)

Hardy's characters are often rustic and his themes filled with symbolism. This collection of short stories includes "The Three Strangers", "The Withered Arm", "The Fiddler of the Reels", "An Imaginative Woman", and "Barbara of the House of Grebe".

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Victorian, Audiobook, British Literature, Literature

Audio Cassette

First published October 20, 1928

About the author

Thomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.

The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal — and literal — cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

The shelving, status updates and star rating constitute how I felt about this book.

[Sorgens Dag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tardé un poco más de tres años en completar ésta antología de +900 páginas. No es un mal libro, de hecho es excelente. Hardy es un autor sobresaliente en la escritura de la literatura amorosa, tiene grandes contrastes y momentos sumamente evocadores, las historias son complejas y sorprendentemente los personajes femeninos destacan por su agudeza y profundidad aún cuando les toca ser estereotípicos tienen matices, son complejas al igual que las relaciones que se relatan aquí.

Supongo que mi problema es el enfoque socioliterario con el que leo, los autores hablan en tres niveles: el literario, el social y el personal, los tres son interdependientes. Hardy era un patanazo y un escritor brillante para diseccionar las dinámicas del amor romántico y sus defectos. En lo personal me parece que hay que leerlos por que de ellos se extraen grandes críticas y reflexiones en torno a las representaciones culturales de lo sentimental y los roles genéricos. Los demás queda a criterio de cada lectora/r/x.

[Iblena · Rating 5 out of 5]

De vez en cuando, acostumbro a leer libros lo suficientemente extensos para terminarlos en un lapso de dos a tres meses. A este tipo de lecturas las llamo "lecturas de largo plazo". Procuro elegir relatos —que es un tipo de narración que me encanta— y que además me parece la mejor forma de iniciarse con la obra de un escritor.

El autor elegido en esta ocasión ha sido Thomas Hardy, cuya obra hasta el momento no había tenido el placer de leer. Este volumen incluye 41 relatos agrupados en cuatro colecciones:

Cuentos de Wessex
Un grupo de nobles damas
Pequeñas ironías de la vida
Un hombre cambiado y otros relatos

Así como un pequeño número de cuentos publicados fuera de colección, inéditos hasta este momento en español.

La temática de los relatos es diversa: hay cuentos de desamor, como por ejemplo "Por el circuito central", cuya trama gira en torno a un curioso triángulo amoroso entre una ingenua y hermosa criada, su joven e insatisfecha señora y un apuesto abogado londinense. También están presentes los que retratan el lado más oscuro de la naturaleza humana, como es el caso de "Una tragedia de dos ambiciones", donde dos ambiciosos hermanos, deseosos por progresar socialmente, cometen el más amoral de los actos.

Pero no todo es drama y tragedia; los hay también con un cariz humorístico o picaresco, destacando el ingenioso "El predicador desconcertado", donde un pueblo entero se dedica al contrabando ante el asombro de un joven predicador. Independientemente de la temática de los relatos, el común denominador de muchos suele ser el mismo: las oportunidades perdidas, los dilemas éticos y morales, la diferencia de clases y las cuentas pendientes del pasado.

Teniendo en cuenta que la era victoriana se caracterizaba (entre otras cosas) por una absoluta subordinación de la mujer, me ha llamado grata y poderosamente la atención la forma tan extraordinaria en la que Hardy ha caracterizado a sus personajes femeninos, dotándoles de personalidades complejas plagadas de matices: las hay inteligentes, temerarias, rebeldes, impulsivas, caprichosas, astutas, románticas, etcétera.

Casi todas son descritas como víctimas de sus propias pasiones y de las normas sociales de la época, mientras que los personajes masculinos son retratados como seres infelices e incluso arrepentidos de las decisiones tomadas en el pasado. Me ha gustado también cómo Hardy va creando la atmósfera de cada historia, introduciendo al lector poco a poco en la misma y describiendo los escenarios con absoluto detalle.

Algunos relatos a destacar:

"Los tres desconocidos": En una noche de celebración, la lluvia reúne a tres hombres misteriosos bajo el mismo techo. ¿Qué será lo que les une? Una historia con un sorpresivo giro final, un relato corto pero inteligentemente hilvanado.
"El brazo marchito": Uno de los pocos relatos con tintes sobrenaturales de la colección, cuya trama gira en torno a un granjero de mediana edad que decide casarse con una joven de gran bondad, desdeñando así a su ex amante y al hijo ilegítimo de ambos.
"La duquesa de Hamptonshire": Donde el lector conocerá el triste y conmovedor destino de la dulce Emmeline.
"Una mujer con mucha imaginación": Una señora casada con un hombre intelectualmente inferior se obsesiona con la figura y obra de un prometedor poeta, cuya residencia casualmente ocupa durante sus vacaciones de verano.
"La cena espera": Christine y Nicholas, dos antiguos amantes separados por las diferencias sociales, ven la posibilidad de unirse en matrimonio tras muchos años de separación. Sin embargo, el inesperado aviso de la llegada del marido que ella creía muerto los condena a una larga espera.

Definitivamente ha valido la pena pasar tres meses leyendo este volumen de cuentos. Los he disfrutado muchísimo y creo que ha sido una excelente forma de empezar a conocer la obra de este gran autor, a quien a partir de ahora puedo considerar entre mis favoritos.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Tales of the beloved author's inimitable Wessex characters

[Keith Willcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been said of Thomas Hardy that he could raise ghosts and breathe life back into the dead and that he did it by sucking warmth and life out of the living, notably his two wives who he treated in a most appalling fashion.

His work was constantly censored and publishers were not happy with his insistence on bringing to light the darker side of English life in the1900's. His ability to describe the frustration of the human experience, particularly as it related to the complexities of the heart, is remarkable. Each story is unique and they are perhaps bound together more by a sense of some powerful and disturbing supernatural presence which will have a good deal to say about how things turn out than by the time and place in which they were written. It does not seem that love is enough to win the day here and many are the lovers in this volume whose best intentions are thwarted by something that seems to be bigger than their love and a good deal less compassionate. One gets the sense that at times Mr. Hardy was spinning his characters upon a wheel of chance, the outcome to be left to his determination rather than theirs.

I began this 800 plus volume with the expectation that I would be as bored as I was in first year university English when Hardy was imposed on my young and unwilling mind. Yet on the contrary, I was intrigued by his writing style which is attentive to the nuances of speech and mood in his characters, each of which is given a distinctive personality of their own no matter for how long they hold the stage. There is an incredible understanding of the human personality here which is timeless. The stories are as fresh today as when the were written.

Each story was for me powerful and moving and I found that after feasting on one I could not rush on to the next without taking some time to fully digest the first. Whether it was Hardy's intention or not there is a sense, despite the constant obstacles that are thrown in the way of happiness, that the human spirit has an irrepressible ability to rise above the seeming unfairness of life as Hardy paints it. Perhaps it is in this never ending struggle with destiny that we see reflected some of Hardy's own ambivalence about love and his deep unhappiness.

He was a writer and a poet and a great one but the world of love and intimacy that he wrote about so perceptively were never part of his daily experience. This is a rich and powerful collection of work. I find myself constantly going back to it.... as if I am haunted by it.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book holds the complete collection of Hardy's short stories split into five sections under the heading "Wessex Tales", "A Group of Noble Dames", "Life's Little Ironies", "A Changed Man", and "Old Mrs Chundle" In total 50 stories
Although the majority of the stories are set or partially set in Wessex[ now S W England mainly the counties of Devon and Somerset they vary in style. My favoutite of the groups are Wessex Tales and Life's Little Ironies which are varied and have a twist at the end of the stories which in most cases are unexpected
A Group of Noble Dames and Old Mrs Chundle I found the storylines apart from one or two stories were basic and predictable and in respect of the Dames the stories were repetitive
Nevertheless a long but worthy read which I would recommend to anyone with a warning that you may waiver thar your concentration may wander off the point occasionally!

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book read it in one night.

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE THREE STRANGERS

“THERE IS NO FUN
UNTILL i CUM”
.
A dark rainy atmospheric Higher Crowstairs house where a shepherd lives, high and low lands thereabouts having different microclimates, and tonight there’s a Christening party with 19 guests, a dancing party vying with a ‘sit-still party’. The respective interactivity of three male strangers (one dressed in cinder-gray) who arrive separately out of the dark rainy blue, as it were, is a hoot and a half, involving a hanging for sheep stealing or writing prose that trips you up at every turn. In a good way. But what is a “hedge-carpenter”? And there are also today’s “‘wuzzes and flames’ (hoarses and phlegms)” and ‘grogblossoms’ up the nose.

The detailed ongoing review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.

[Carlo Milan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es el primer libro que leo de Thomas Hardy, sus cuentos son realmente dignos de ser leídos una y otra vez, me encanta su narrativa, el ambiente donde se desarrollan, todos los elementos han sido muy enriquecedores para mí.

[Elizabeth Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novels often have predictable plots, but that's not always the case with short stories. While the first short story in this book was a bit predictable, the last page of the second short story shocked me!

[Maria Rosas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fue mi primer acercamiento al autor , sus cuentos son relatos costumbristas que nos acercan a los usos , costumbres y leyendas de su natal Wessex
Varios relatos de moraleja, así como lo que tienen cierta aura tétrica
Relatos fascinantes

[Melissa’s Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook collection contains two of Thomas Hardy's short stories. Hardy is one of my favorite authors. His descriptions and characters are amazing. These two stories are on the supernatural/fantastical side which makes them fun and different. The first story is called The Withered Arm. When a wealthy farmer brings home a beautiful wife, one dairymaid in particular is very curious about the new wife. She asks her 12 year old son to spy on her. The dairymaid has a frightful dream in which an angry woman appears to her with a withered arm. When she later meets the new wife, she is kind but complains of waking up one morning with a withered arm that the doctors can't explain. The story continues from there with all kinds of complications.

The second story is called An Imaginative Woman. In this story, a family is on vacation. The wife Ella is a mother of three children and is somewhat discontent with her life. She loves reading and writing poetry and feels a particular author named Robert Trewe speaks to her. When quite by chance her family rents his rooms while he is away, Ella becomes obsessed with his books, his possessions, and wants to try to find a way to meet him.

Both stories are filled with missed opportunities, irony, and what happens when people stray from their moral compass. There is also the fantastical element in both stories. The narrator of the audiobook is brilliant. It was a pleasurable way to spend two hours.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found it randomly by chance on a trip to Penang. we came across a souvenir shop while strolling around Georgetown and found that inside there was an old books stores with very interesting books. This one caught my attention right away for I had always beena big fan of classical short stories. Though I rarely read them in English and it caused certain difficulty at first, the book came through quite well. The vibe was tranquil and mythical as always for this genre. All the stories are interesting and twistful, some are particularly moving, like For Conscience's sake. A very nice read ~~~

[Hazel Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know why I keep reading Hardy when I hate sad endings. But he writes so beautifully, so I can’t stay away. At least in these two short stories, I didn’t become as attached to the characters.