In V.S. Pritchett's Collected Essays (1991) he says of Thomas Hardy "we are always struck by the largeness of the panorama and by the narrowness of Hardy's single, crooked, well-trodden path across it." From this statement, do you think Pritchett was fond of Hardy?
This balance of large setting and narrow aspect of character is distinctive of all Hardy novels. As you start the next text, knowing what you know from Tess, what can you expect from this new work? What predictions can you make? Any themes, symbols, motifs you may want to pay attention for?
23 comments:
I think that Pritchett was not fond of Hardy because he used language such as narrowness, single, and crooked to describe Hardy's writing...
I don't think Pritchett was fond of Hardy but I dont think that he wasn't fond of him either. He stated that Hardy's path was "single and crooked" showing that he probably wasn't fond of Hardy. But also stating that his path was "well-trodden" showing that he also could be fond of Hardy.
yo... i was just reading an article by this Pritchett guy and i think that he totally liked hardy... he seemed to like... know what he was talking about and was kind of patronizing but that could be a good thing... and i don't know what panorama is.
yo... tomas hardy was a bad friggen larry. he was sick that i dont even know what to do with myself. he is like the seriously the coolest guy i know, he is almost as cool as getty but i guess he dint quite make it... so yeah ballllllin
I don't think Pritchett was fond of Hardy but I do think he admired his writing. He used the word "well-trodden" to give detail. I think in Hardy's other novels, we should look for hypocritical views and alienation of the main characters.
I don't believe that Pritchett is fond of Hardy. He uses language such as crooked to describe Hardy's way of writing. However, he in some way he probably appreciates the works that Hardy does. He refers to his works being a "well-trodden path," giving Hardy some credit in his way of writing.
I personally believe that while Pritchett seemed to dislike the way in which Hardy went about writing his novels (through using such language as crooked, and narrow, as well as believeing he tried to make his novels larger than life by use of the term "largeness of the panorama", It also seemed that he respected the final outcome of his so-called "crooked" way of writing. He may not have liked it, but I got the impression he respected it.
I think Pritchett was intrigued by Hardy's writing because he says that he was struck by the largeness of his panorama. He thinks that Hardy has a dark style of writing because he describes it as narrow and crooked.
Themes, symbols, motifs we should look for in Hardy's writing are probably his ideas of fate, paganism, and the "stone temples."
He either likes him or he doesn't. It seems like Pritchett respects Hardy's skill of writing but doesn't admire his choice of content.
The diction in Prichett's Collected Essays shows us that he isn't fond of Hardy. Using words such as "narrowness and crooked" is evidence of his dislike for Hardy.
I don't think Pritchett liked Hardy. Even the word 'well-trodden' to me sounds like he thinks Hardy has only done what others have done before him and is taking a easy path not a new one. He's predictable.
no, becuase he vied hardy as narrow minded, and displayed this through his characters and vast settings. i think that this will happen inhis next book becuase writers dont change there syle dramaticly from novel to novel. sweet<3
I believe Pritchett may have been fond of Hardy but his statement appeared to be very critical of his writing style. I think that Pritchett believes Hardy’s novels all have the same basic plot. They all have characters with different social status, but he uses them in the same ways, he stays on one path. Hence why the path is so flatten, because Hardy keeps taking the same one.
I don't think that Pritchett was to fond of hardy. I don't think he liked hardy's style. But the predictions for the mayor of casterberidge i would have to say that i believe hardy will follow his trajedy at first at then metaphorically working itself out in the end
It may sound like Pritchett was not fond of Hardy, but I really don't think that is the point. I believe Pritchett was right whether he liked Hardy or not. Hardy's world was changing drastically before him, ugly industry seeming to protrude into his beautiful nature which surrounded his highly regarded rural life. It is true that Hardy was probably a little narrow minded about the positive side of the industrial revolution and the urban life it created, but many of these things did not seem very positive until long after Hardy died. As more and more people moved and grew villages to towns and towns to cities, life increasingly became worse physically, morally, and intellectually for a majority of the population who might not have suffered so much if Hardy's ideal rural life had for the time been preserved.
i think that Pritchett disliked Hardy but respected him. by using words like narrowness and crooked he gives off a negative feeling but then at the end he states that the path Hardy carved was "well-trodden" which makes me think that even though he did not like Hardy he can appreciate his writting.
In the quote, the word stuck is used. In the context that the word struck is used, it seems that the author is "amazed" by how complex Hardy's plots are. The author is amazed that Hardy does this in all of his work, not just in one story. If my interpretation is correct, then Pritchett liked Hardy's writing complexity which to him would make Hardy's work enjoyable to read. It is often said that The Lord of the Rings is such a great book because of the complexity of the history that J.R.R. Tolkien put in his novels and I would agree that it is the mystery of his writing that makes Tolkien so enjoyable to read. I believe that Pritchett finds the same complexity and enjoyment in Hardy.
"we are always struck by the largeness of the panorama and by the narrowness of Hardy's single, crooked, well-trodden path across it." the quote itself is kind of redundent because largeness, is a big and panorama means a large landscape or seenory, so I don't know where Pritchetts is going at this. However the word narrowness, means that Pritchett thinks that Hardy can not think with an open mind. The words crooked means that Hardy has a certain way of looking at a paticular item, and the fact that Pritchett has mention this shows that this kind of way of thinking really makes him mad. the well-trodden path across it is interesting because it means that the path is like heavyly traveled or in litterary terms the theam has been done before, so Pritchett is saying that Hardy is very unoriginal, (perhaps this theam could be fait) and this is very negative. So I believe that Pritchett does not care for Hardy non-what-so-ever.
The word crooked makes me think that Pritchett wasn't fond of Hardy. He talks of Hardy's narrow view whick also is a negative. Saying that the path is well trodden may be a slam saying that he is repeating other peoples' work.
I can expect the narrow view to be in Dairyman Crick's perspective and predict that there will be mixed up relationships that overlap; the love triange. Dairyman Crick always seems to be watching what is going on.
From Hardy's limited view of the world and his connections to it I think that my novel will be very narrow in revelation of society yet it will show two different point of views like paganism and victorian values in Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Also from reading the beginning of my book I can see that Victorian values and those that oppose or differ them will play a part in this novel for example Mrs. Yeobright and her embarrassment when her niece doesn't get married and Eustacia whose views are more relaxed and she related more to nature...she also isn't as mad at Wildeve for coming back to her and it seems as if she might be able to forgive him... they might get back together even though hes going to marry Tamsin(Thomsin)??
Pritchett's doesn't apear to like Hardy because of his this statement word choice "narrowness of Hardy's single, crooked, well-trodden path across it."
My prediction was pretty close to the story that unfolded. But knowing what we knew about Tess in the sence that she was weak didn't help because Bathsheba was a strong women taking on the man role. In the end Bathshebas fate happens to be a better one because she ends up with the man that is right for her, but she did have to go through the tragady of her first husband.
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