Thomas Hardy and Censorship of His Works Essay -- Biography Biographie

Thomas brazen and Censorship of His WorksDuring the Victorian Era, writing served as an outlet to influence a ever-changing society. Because the family and domestic life were integral parts of that society, much time was spent at home reading. These Victorian readers had been strongly affected by the political, economic, social, and religious changes that had been fetching place. They rebelled against the growth that was taking place, blaming their problems on religious doubt, Darwin and the rise of science, class conflict, poverty, and industrialization. In addition, Victorian Puritanism spoke out against sex, the emancipation of women, and strong individualism in women, believe that they would lead to the end of strong moral standards in the family and in society as a whole. As a result of all of these controversies, people real a tremendous fear of change and criticized any idea or work that threatened their sense of stability (Chapman 35-50.). Thomas Hardy and other productiv e artists of his time thus faced a highly critical audience and often were forced to censor some of their more liberal ideas. Thomas Hardy as a writer had been greatly influenced in his youth by some of the more liberal thinkers of the time such as John Stuart manufacturing plant and Darwin. He rase claimed at one time that he believed he was one of the first to read On the Origin of Species. In his novels, Hardy incarnate many of these themes in order to portray a real world. Darwins challenge led Hardy to lose faith in Christianity, and this lack of faith gives his novels their tragic, stripped element. However, because novels in the nineteenth century were serially published in installments in magazines, Hardy, particularly at the end of his career, found it d... ...ss, received negative reviews. He even wrote an added preface to the novel in July of 1892 (when the first one-volume edition was published) in order to comment on the critical reception of the work. After encount ering similar difficulties with the publication of Jude the shroud and after working with four different publishers over a ten-year period, Hardy ceased writing novels and focused his efforts on writing poetry where he could more in full express his ideas without restrictions. Bibliography and Works CitedChapman, Raymond. The Victorian Debate English Literature and Society, 1832-1901. New York Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1968. Millgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy A Biography. New York Random House, 1982. Orel, Harold, ed. Thomas Hardys own(prenominal) Writings Prefaces, Literary Opinions, Reminiscences. Kansas University of Kansas Press, 1966.