Claire Tomalin
Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin charts Hardy’s modest beginnings as the son of a Dorchester builder to a critically acclaimed and highly successful author.
Tomalin’s biography opens with the death of Hardy’s first wife, Emma. Riddled with guilt for his treatment of her, Hardy memorializes Emma in his poetry, recalling their courtship and early years of marriage. They became increasingly estranged as the years wore on, so by the time Emma dies in 1912, the two had barely spoken to each other. They led virtually separate lives with Emma sleeping alone in an attic bedroom.
Tomalin then takes us back to the beginning of Hardy’s life, his school years, and his apprenticeship as an architect. As an aspiring author, Hardy initially struggles to get his books serialized in publications. Eventually, he achieves success and recognition for his novels and poetry. He evokes rural landscapes with an exquisite eye for detail and captures the lives, customs, struggles, and dialects of country people with unsurpassed realism. His success gave him access to famous literary and political figures with whom he interacted regularly.
Tomalin describes Hardy’s relationship with women as fraught with tension. He was heavily influenced by his mother’s outlook on life although he ignored her advice never to marry. Emma assisted him with his early novels, serving as his copy writer. He consulted with her on how to depict his female characters. She inspired some of best novels while she lived and inspired his poetry after her death. She claimed Hardy didn’t understand real women and cared more for his fictional heroines than he did for real women.
Hardy married his second wife, Florence, after Emma’s death. He was more than twice her age. Like his first wife, Florence served as his assistant. She never felt comfortable stepping into Emma’s shoes, taking Emma’s place. She did all she could to erase traces of Emma, even going so far as to deny Hardy’s poetry was about his first wife.
Tomalin weaves excerpts and insightful readings of Hardy’s novels and poems into her narrative. She shows him keeping a strict daily regimen to focus on his writing at the expense of cultivating healthy relationships with the women in his life. Both wives claim he was not an easy man to live with. His polite and unassuming persona in public belied the seething social tensions he experienced in his early years and which are reflected in his writing. His novels did not shy away from holding up the harsh light of criticism on accepted ideas about society, about social inequities and gender discrimination.
The biography deepens our understanding of Hardy and his work. It is well-researched, avoids academic jargon, and is very readable. It includes black and white photographs, detailed notes, and an extensive bibliography.
Highly recommended.