Thomas Hardy and Desire: Conceptions of the Self

244 Pages·2013·2.414 MB·English

by  Jane Thomas (auth.)

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Thomas Hardy and Desire
AlsobyJaneThomas
THOMASHARDY,FEMININITYANDDISSENT:Reassessingthe‘Minor’Novels
THEWELL-BELOVEDWITHTHEPURSUITOFTHEWELL-BELOVED,
ThomasHardy(editor)
ACHANGEDMANANDOTHERSTORIES,ThomasHardy(editor)
LIFE’SLITTLEIRONIES,ThomasHardy(editor)
Thomas Hardy and Desire
Conceptions of the Self
Jane Thomas
SeniorLecturerinEnglish,UniversityofHull,UK
Palgrave
macmillan
©JaneThomas2013
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Contents
Preface vi
Acknowledgements vii
ListofAbbreviations ix
Introduction–ThomasHardyandDesire:ConceptionsoftheSelf 1
1 HouseandHome:NostalgicDesireandtheLocusofBeing 15
2 Desire,FemaleAmityandSapphicSpace 41
3 SexualDesireandtheLureoftheErotic 71
4 PoorMenandLadies:AspirationalDesire 95
5 AsYouLikeIt:Cross-DressingandtheGenderedExpressionof
Desire 119
6 Art,AestheticsandMasculineDesire:TheWell-Beloved(1897) 144
7 ‘ScannedAcrosstheDarkSpace’:Poetry,DesireandAesthetic
Fulfilment 164
Notes 192
Bibliography 215
Index 228
v
Preface
Things are not all as graspable and sayable as on the whole we are
led to believe; most events are unsayable, occur in a space that no
word has ever penetrated, and most unsayable of all are works of
art,mysteriousexistences,whoselifeenduresalongsideours,which
passesaway.
RainerMariaRilke(1903;2011)LetterstoaYoungPoet:6
Myonlydesire’sadesire
tobefreefromdesire.
‘Desire’saDesire’,SelimaHill,Gloria:SelectedPoems
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne:BloodaxeBooks,2008:117)
vi
Acknowledgements
Much of this book was written during two periods of research leave from
the University of Hull for which I am deeply grateful. A British Academy
OverseasConferenceGrantandawardsfromHullUniversity’sFacultyofArts
and Social Sciences Research and Staff Development funds enabled me to
participateinseminalHardyconferencesinDorchester,UK,andNewHaven,
Connecticut. My thanks go to Rosemarie Morgan, Angelique Richardson
and Richard Nemesvari for the opportunity to be a part of ‘Hardy at Yale’
2010and2012.IowealargedebtofgratitudetotheThomasHardySociety
of Great Britain and to its dedicated and hard-working Council of Man-
agement. I particularly appreciate the practical and scholarly support and
the friendship of Mike Nixon, Helen Gibson, Brenda Parry, Sue Clarke, Sue
Theobald,FurseandRosemarySwann,DeeandPatrickTolfree,HelenLange,
Andrew and Marilyn Leah, Mary Kinsey and, above all, the Society’s inde-
fatigable Chairman, Tony Fincham, for inviting me to companion him on
some wonderful walks through the landscape of Hardy’s novels in Dorset
and Cornwall and for his matchless enthusiasm for and knowledge of all
things Hardyian. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be the Academic
DirectoroftheInternationalThomasHardyConferenceandFestivalof2010
and2012.Ihavegreatlyappreciatedtheopportunitytotestoutmyideasin
suchanengagedandrichlyinformedenvironmentofnew,establishedand
independentscholars.
The national and international community of Hardy scholars is wide
and generous and I have benefitted from discussions with Mary Rimmer,
Angelique Richardson, Richard Nemesvari, Roger Ebbatson, William
Greenslade, Bill Morgan, Dennis Taylor, Hillis Miller, Penny Boumelha,
Sanae Uehara, Neil Sargent, Linda Shires, Kari Nixon, Rebecca Welshman
andJacquelineDillion.IamgratefultoPhillipMallettforhisunfailingsup-
port and encouragement, to Keith Wilson and Barrie Bullen who read and
commented incisively on draft sections of this book and to Simon Gatrell
who did this and more, talking and walking me through Hardy’s vision of
WessexandindulgingmymildobsessionwithDorsetcreamteasontheway.
My thanks also go to Philip Davis for generously providing references over
theyears.
William T. Flynn of the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of
Leeds, assisted with Latin translations as did my colleagues David Bagchi
and Veronica O’Mara. My thanks also go to James Booth, David Kennedy,
MartinGoodmanandespeciallyPaulGilbertfortheirreadinesstoengagein
discussions about Hardy, Lacan and desire. Kathy Mills and Frances Kelly
vii
viii Acknowledgements
kept me going when my own interest and enthusiasm flagged, and Dan
Bryanenlivenedmanyanhourwithhisowntakeondesire.
I thank Paula Kennedy of Palgrave Macmillan for commissioning this
book,BenDoyleforhispatienceandgoodhumourinseeingitthroughand
Devasena Vedamurthi and the production team at Integra India, for their
assistance in preparing it for publication. I am particularly grateful to Tim
Armstrong and Hillis Miller for their willingness to engage with and com-
mentonthetypescript,toKirstenSimisterandCarolineRhodesattheFerens
Art Gallery, and Hull Museums for permission to use Herbert J. Draper’s
Ulysses and the Sirens and to Suzanne Fairless-Aitken and Bloodaxe Books
forpermissiontoquoteSelimaHill.
IowemosttoJohnOsborne,withoutwhomIwouldnothavegotthisfar,
and to Rhiannon, Aeronwy and Carys who I hope will never give way on
theirdesire.Thisbookisforthem.
Abbreviations
AL ALaodicean(1881;1997),ed.JohnSchad(London:Penguin).
BE APairofBlueEyes(1873;2005),ed.withnotesbyAlanManford,
introductionbyTimDolin(Oxford:OUP).
CL TheCollectedLettersofThomasHardyin7vols.,ed.RichardLittle
PurdyandMichaelMillgate,1978–1988(Oxford:Clarendon
Press),vol.1:1840–1892(1978);vol.2:1893–1901(1980);vol.3:
1902–08(1982);vol.4:1909–1913(1984);vol.5:1914–1919
(1985);vol.6:1920–1925(1987);vol.71926–1927(1988).
‘DP’ ‘TheDistractedPreacher’inWessexTales(1888(1912);1998).
DR DesperateRemedies(1871;2003),ed.withintroductionandnotes
byPatriciaIngham(Oxford:OUP).
FMC FarfromtheMaddingCrowd(1874;2002),ed.withnotesby
SuzanneB.Falck-Yi,introductionbyLindaShires(Oxford:OUP).
‘FoR’ ‘TheFiddleroftheReels’inWessexTales(1888(1912);1998).
HoE TheHandofEthelberta(1876;1997),ed.withintroductionby
TimDolin(London:Penguin).
Hynes TheCompletePoeticalWorksofThomasHardyin5vols.,ed.
SamuelHynes(1982–1995)(ClarendonPress:Oxford);vol.I
(1982);vol.II(1987);vol.III(1985).
ILH AnIndiscretionintheLifeofanHeiressandOtherStories(1878;
1994),ed.PamelaDalziel(Oxford:OUP).
‘IW’ ‘AnImaginativeWoman’inLife’sLittleIronies(1894;1999).
JO JudetheObscure(1895;1998),ed.PatriciaIngham(Oxford:OUP).
LLI Life’sLittleIronies(1894;1999),ed.AlanManford,introduction
byNormanPage(Oxford:OUP).
LNI TheLiteraryNotesofThomasHardy,ed.LennartBjörk(1984),
vol.I(Basingstoke:Macmillan).
LN2 TheLiteraryNotesofThomasHardy,ed.LennartBjörk(1985)
vol.2(Basingstoke:Macmillan).
LW TheLifeandWorkofThomasHardybyThomasHardy,ed.Michael
Millgate(1984)(Basingstoke:Macmillan).
‘MH’ ‘TheMelancholyHussaroftheGermanLegion’(1890),pub
WessexTales(1888(1912);1998).
MoC TheMayorofCasterbridge(1886;2004).ed.withnotesbyDale
Kramer,introductionbyPamelaDalziel(Oxford:OUP).
PW ThomasHardy’sPersonalWritings,ed.HaroldOrel(1967)
(London:Macmillan).
ix