Random Thomas Hardy Podcasts

This story opens with a lovely, poor and proud young woman who lives with her aunt. The young woman saves the life of a farmer who subsequently falls in love with her. However, the young woman inherits a fortune and moves away. On the flip side the farmer loses everything he has and travels around the country seeking employment. One evening the farmer helps to put out a blazing fire in a lonely farm. When the veiled owner comes out to thank him, he discovers that she is none other than the beautiful woman who once rejected him and moved away. Thomas Hardy was brought up in rural Dorset and was the son of a humble stonemason. He suffered from life long ill health and was schooled at home till he was sixteen. He then trained to be an architect and began writing poetry. He wrote his first novel The Poor Man and The Lady in 1867 but met with little success. Hardy destroyed the manuscript and worked on two others which were published but anonymously. In 1873, he published A Pair of Blue Eyes, to which he put his own name and this book was relatively more successful. In fact the term, “cliff-hanger” which refers to stories in which the reader is left in suspense till the next chapter originated with the book which originally appeared in serial form in a magazine. Far From the Madding Crowd was Hardy’s fourth novel and gave him his first taste of literary and commercial success. It also laid the foundation for several themes that Hardy would continue to use. The concept of Wessex itself was an important Hardy motif in which he contrasts the rural setting against a rapidly industrializing urban England. In many of his novels, his characters are unable to stem the flow of events. The effects of overwhelming passion, women’s rights, society’s constraints and demands which clash with individual wants and desires, are some of the themes explored in his work. The beautiful and proud Bathsheba Everdene, Gabriel Oak, the man who loves her, the rich, lonely and strait laced William Boldwood, the dashing and debonair Sergeant Troy, the tragic Fanny Robin are all memorable characters who make Far From the Madding Crowd an absorbing and thought provoking read.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Far From the Madding Crowd, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Thomas Hardy

Amidst the fireworks and celebrations of Guy Fawkes Night, a covered wagon winds its way along the dark country heath land. Hidden at the back is a young woman who is running away from a thwarted marriage ceremony with the local innkeeper. The driver of the wagon, a young herdsman, is secretly in love with her but is so devoted that he vows to help her reunite with her useless lover. The opening scenes of Thomas Hardy’s sixth novel The Return of the Native, form the backdrop to this story of a profoundly flawed woman and the men who fall in love with her. The book itself had a controversial debut, something which greeted many of Hardy’s novels at that time. It first appeared in serial form in 1878 in the Belgravia magazine, which was notorious for its risqué and sensational content. The radical themes explored by Hardy in the novel prevented many publishers from daring to accept it. However, today it is considered one of the finest Victorian novels and one that marks a great shift in the moral universe of the time. Set in the famous, fictional Hardy country Wessex, The Return of the Native also takes place here in this imaginary county of his own creation. This novel’s action is focused in Egdon Heath in Wessex, and occurs across the time frame of exactly one year and one day. Probably for the first time in English literary history, a book was written that takes a frank and objective look at concepts like illicit physical and romantic relationships, the conflict between human impulse and societal restraint and the tragedy that awaits those who fly in the face of convention. For Hardy, these were enduring themes that he explored time and again, despite the moral outrage that greeted most of his novels. Unforgettable characters like Diggory Venn, the “reddleman” who rescues his beloved Thomasin Yeobright from a failed elopement, the haughty black haired beauty Eustacia Vye, the bitter and superstitious Susan Nunsuch and many more make this a truly panoramic novel. The novel is also remarkable for its deep roots in country customs, folklore and legends which give it a matchless feel of the atmosphere and authenticity. Hardy’s scrupulous plotting, his compassion and humanity, his own experiences of returning to his native Brockhampton after facing the anger of the moral brigade in London all combine to make this book a most valuable experience.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, romance, The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy

In this three part podcast Arthur Keegan and David Fay discuss Thomas Hardy and music in relation to an album of music called The Past & I: 10o Years of Thomas Hardy released by Delphian Records on 19th July 2024.

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Categories: Arts, Music

Tags: art song, Arthur Keegan, music, poetry, poetry and music, the past and I, Thomas Hardy