LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES by Thomas Hardy
Nov. 6th, 2015 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blueinkedfrostThis is a set of excellent short stories. Generally with a tragic bent, Hardy's able to capture these human miseries with verisimilitude and strong writing. For people who didn't like Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the short story format cuts down a lot on overly lengthy descriptions, melodrama, and heavy-handed symbolism. For people who liked Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Hardy's talent is still on display here. With a few exceptions, these stories are great.
Many of the stories focus on the lives of women; 'For Conscience' Sake' is a take on sexual double standards and what a man should do to atone for a wrong committed twenty years ago.
'The Son's Veto' is a story of a mother's sacrifice; 'On the Western Circuit' is a tale of mistaken correspondence, young lovers, and an unhappy marriage. These two are rather sentimental stories; they remind me of short stories LM Montgomery wrote at a later time. But, being written by Hardy, there's significantly fewer happy endings. There's not much innovation in terms of plot, but I found 'The Son's Veto' especially compelling in terms of execution; it makes a strong beginning to the volume.
'The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion' stands out as Hardy's historical fiction; Napoleonic-era Hussars enter a small English town. There's a lot of attention to detail, including some inhumane practices of the day.
'The Fiddler of the Reels' is probably the weakest story - about a malicious violinist with a terrible charisma - but even so it contains a lot of interesting detail about nineteenth-century dance tunes and social dances.
The strange sagas of the lives at the village of Longpuddle in 'A Few Crusted Characters' are an interconnected collection well worth reading. Complex relationships and deep feelings haunt the small village, just as Miss Marple would point out. You can find all sorts of wickednesses and mysteries in a village. This set is probably the jewel of the collection.
Recommended as well-written nineteenth-century short stories that show many of the author's strengths.
Many of the stories focus on the lives of women; 'For Conscience' Sake' is a take on sexual double standards and what a man should do to atone for a wrong committed twenty years ago.
'The Son's Veto' is a story of a mother's sacrifice; 'On the Western Circuit' is a tale of mistaken correspondence, young lovers, and an unhappy marriage. These two are rather sentimental stories; they remind me of short stories LM Montgomery wrote at a later time. But, being written by Hardy, there's significantly fewer happy endings. There's not much innovation in terms of plot, but I found 'The Son's Veto' especially compelling in terms of execution; it makes a strong beginning to the volume.
'The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion' stands out as Hardy's historical fiction; Napoleonic-era Hussars enter a small English town. There's a lot of attention to detail, including some inhumane practices of the day.
'The Fiddler of the Reels' is probably the weakest story - about a malicious violinist with a terrible charisma - but even so it contains a lot of interesting detail about nineteenth-century dance tunes and social dances.
The strange sagas of the lives at the village of Longpuddle in 'A Few Crusted Characters' are an interconnected collection well worth reading. Complex relationships and deep feelings haunt the small village, just as Miss Marple would point out. You can find all sorts of wickednesses and mysteries in a village. This set is probably the jewel of the collection.
Recommended as well-written nineteenth-century short stories that show many of the author's strengths.
