{"product_id":"return-of-the-native-12","title":"Return of the Native","description":"\u003cp\u003eThomas Hardy's tragic vision of a love struggling to overcome prejudice and rejection, \u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e is edited in Penguin Classics with an introduction by Penny Bouhmelha.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAgainst the lowering background of Egdon Heath, fiery Eustacia Vye passes her days, wishing only for passionate love. She believes that her escape from Egdon lies in marriage to Clym Yeobright, home from Paris and discontented with his work there. But Clym wishes to return to the Egdon community; a desire which sets him in opposition to his wife and brings them both to despair. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the first edition of the text, this edition includes detailed notes of later revisions made by Hardy, glossary, bibliography and useful chronology of author's life. In her introduction Penny Bouhmelha identifies the literary and classical allusions in Hardy's text, in particular the parallels with Flaubert's \u003ci\u003eMadame Bovary\u003c\/i\u003e and with the Oedipus story. In so doing she demonstrates Hardy's claim for tragic status for ordinary human lives and the ways that the characters in the novel - especially the ill-fated lovers and Damon Wildeve - spoil their chances to master their own destinies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas Hardy (1840-1928), born Higher Brockhampton, near Dorchester, originally trained as an architect before earning his living as a writer. Though he saw himself primarily as a poet, Hardy was the author of some of the late eighteenth century's major novels: \u003ci\u003eThe Mayor of Casterbridge \u003c\/i\u003e(1886), \u003ci\u003eTess of the D'Urbervilles\u003c\/i\u003e (1891), \u003ci\u003eFar from the Madding Crowd \u003c\/i\u003e(1874), and \u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure \u003c\/i\u003e(1895). Amidst the controversy caused by \u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure\u003c\/i\u003e, he turned to the poetry he had been writing all his life. In the next thirty years he published over nine hundred poems and his epic drama in verse, \u003ci\u003eThe Dynasts\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you enjoyed \u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e, you might like Anne Brontë's \u003ci\u003eThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall\u003c\/i\u003e, also available in Penguin Classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The greatest tragic writer among the English novelists'\u003cbr\u003eVirginia Woolf\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54220787614040,"sku":"9780140435184","price":17.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780140435184_eecfd250-bdca-4b8b-b1cc-b2e49758a0f1.jpg?v=1764429329","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/return-of-the-native-12","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}