The Origin of Hardys Tragic Vision

Dr Rza Öztürks new book, The Origin of Hardys Tragic Vision, is a lucid explanation of the most important aspect of novelist Thomas Hardys worldview the destruction of self. Dr Öztürk gets to the core of Hardys tragic vision evident in the novelists interpretation of the dramatic interplay between character and circumstance. To what degree either element of character or circumstance weighs in the tragic equation is the subject of discourse in Öztürks book, a significant acquisition for students and scholars of Hardy, Victorian literature and culture, or the history of the English novel. This study of Hardy tackles the novelists formulation of tragedy as an individuals natural aim or desire and attempts to answer the important question concerning who or what is responsible for such appetite. The Origin of Hardys Tragic Vision can serve as a handbook in the study of tragedy, from the ancient Greek notions to manifestations in late nineteenth century novelists (with reference to modern novelists and dramatists, such as D. H. Lawrence and Henrik Ibsen). Öztürks analysis, from the impulse of character in The Mayor of Casterbridge, through the envelope of circumstance in Tess of the DUrbervilles, culminates comprehensively in his discussion of the depletion of life in Jude the Obscure. As a novelist familiar with the ideas of Schopenhauer and Darwin, Hardys tragic vision encompasses a brutally stark statement about the reality of life itself, and this assessment is captured brilliantly in Rza Öztürks important book. Regarding tragedy from the technical elements to the thematic, to its special attention in terms of feminism and illustrations of the absurd in Jude the Obscure, there is no question that The Origin of Hardys Tragic Vision fills the need for newer interpretations of a vital figure in English literature who straddles both the Victorian and modern eras. Gregory F. Tague, PhD, Professor of English, St. Francis College, New York; author of Character and Consciousness (2005) and Ethos and Behavior (2008); editor of the ASEBL Journal See more