A Changed Man and Other Tales
In these short stories Hardy's love of the eerie and the supernatural is brought out in full measure, as is his skill in depicting topographical detail. In the title story, set in Casterbridge, a young Hussar captain comes to the town when his regiment is posted to the barracks there. Before long he becomes engaged to Laura, said to be a born 'player of hearts'. Handsome and coveted by all the young maidens, Captain Maumbry seems the perfect match for Laura, who has long desired to enter heart and soul into a military romance. But then a new parson comes to town and though he first irritates the Captain by requesting a stop to regimental band-playing on Sundays, the two later become close friends. When the Captain subsequently announces his intention of resigning his commission and entering the Church as a curate, it causes consternation all round. What changes will it wreak on the small community, on Laura, and not least on Maumbry himself?
BEST DEALS
About the Author
Thomas Hardy OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain such as those from his native South West England.
While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, he gained fame as the author of novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin.
Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances, and they are often set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex; initially based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in south-west and south central England. Two of his novels, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, were listed in the top 50 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.