1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So Tracy, 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: you and I both, like many high school students, had 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: to read some Thomas Hardy had to read Yes, did 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: read no oh um. And I I will also confess 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: that though I have actually read a good bit of 8 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: his work between that and and college, I've always had 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: a really hard time connecting with a lot of it. Um. 10 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: But when I first read about his life story, which 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: is quite a while back, and especially his very different 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: relationships with his first and second wives, I became kind 13 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: of fascinated with his life story. Which was always my 14 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: problem studying literature is that I would always be like, yeah, 15 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: but I want to know about the writer and their foibles. Um. 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: You guys have your interpretation party, but I'm going to 17 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: be over here in biographies, Um, he goes with Thomas 18 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: Hardy just like a lot of writers. Once you know 19 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 1: about his life, a lot of his work becomes a 20 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: little more interesting because he was clearly, very clearly working 21 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: through his own stuff on the page while he was writing. 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: So today we're going to talk about Thomas Hardy, but 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,279 Speaker 1: we are also going to talk about the two women 24 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: who were very very central to his life, Emma Gifford 25 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: and Florence Dougdale. So Thomas Hardy was born June second, 26 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: eighteen forty in Dorset, England, and he was the first 27 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: child born to a stonemason also named Thomas Hardy and 28 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: Jemima hand Hardy. They had three more children after the 29 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: younger Thomas was born. The family home was in a 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: pretty remote area and living in these surroundings of this 31 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: open heath land of Higher brock Hampton really left an 32 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: impression on him. Uh, imagery of that kind of surroundings 33 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: and upbringing that would come up a lot in his 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: writings as an adult and as a young boy, Thomas 35 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: got a pretty rudimentary education initially. Uh. He attended a 36 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: village school for only a year that didn't even start 37 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: until he was eight, in part because he was often 38 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: pretty sickly as a child in his early years. But 39 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: after that first year he then started attending school in Dorchester, 40 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: which offered a much more structured curriculum. As a teenager, 41 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: Hardy became an apprentice to an architect named John Hicks, 42 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: This arrangement started when Hardy was sixteen and it lasted 43 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: for about six years. When he was twenty two, Hardy 44 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: made the move of more than a hundred miles to 45 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:42,679 Speaker 1: London to start a new job there. He had other 46 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: career ambitions, which you will get to in a moment, 47 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: but he thought that architecture would offer him a solid 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: way to make and save up some money. So he 49 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: had gotten his job as a draftsman working for the 50 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: office of Arthur Blomfield. And at this point in Blomfield's 51 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: career he was already well known and was president of 52 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: the Architectural Association, but he had not worked on the 53 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: projects that made him famous, including the Royal College of Music. 54 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: Blomfield is another interesting one that we might talk about 55 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: in the future. Hardy only stayed with Blomfield's firm for 56 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: five years. He continued to have poor health, just as 57 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: he had as a child, and it was determined that 58 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: a return to the country would be best for his health, 59 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: so he left his London job in eighteen sixty seven, 60 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: although he did remain friends with Arthur Blomfield for the 61 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: rest of his life. Like as we mentioned a moment ago, 62 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: architecture really wasn't a job that Hardy considered his calling. 63 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: He wanted to attend university and then become an Anglican priest, 64 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: but in his years in London he had changed. He 65 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: didn't have the religious zeal that he had had up 66 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: through his early twenties, and because he had so many illnesses, 67 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: he really hadn't been able to save up a lot 68 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: of money, not what he would need to support himself 69 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: through this planned higher education, so he turned to poetry. 70 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: So this kind of seems like a man who may 71 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: have felt desperate burying himself in his feelings in a 72 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: way to express them. You don't normally go that life 73 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: plan didn't work out. The only other option is to 74 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: be a poet. But Hardy didn't really approach poetry that 75 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: way at all. He basically kind of set this out 76 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: as a goal for himself, and he really wanted to 77 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: become a great poet, and he was very methodical about 78 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: his approach about developing his work. So he worked on 79 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: developing his own style and his own voice, and he 80 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: did produce a number of poems and sent them to publishers, 81 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: but none of those early works made it to print. 82 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: Hardy's first novel, was The poor Man and the Lady, 83 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: and he wrote that in the months after he left London. 84 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: This was never published, though he shopped it around. Several 85 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: publishers seemed interested in it, but ultimately they passed. The 86 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: book hard he had written was about class division, as 87 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: you may have guessed from the title, and the advice 88 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,239 Speaker 1: Hardy got was to work on making his writing more 89 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: about the larger narrative and less obvious in conveying his 90 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: sentiments on things. It was a little heavy handed, maybe inelegance, 91 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: and this is really unsurprising considering that it was his 92 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: first attempt. We do not really know how clunky or 93 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: artful The poor Man and the Lady was, though, because 94 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: some elements of it were integrated into later work, including 95 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: a poem with the same name, but the writer destroyed 96 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: the manuscript later in his life. Yeah, there were discussions 97 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: after he got famous that he might kind of put 98 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: it back together in some way, but that never happened. 99 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: After taking all of those suggestions that he got from 100 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: publishing houses to heart, though, hard he wrote another novel, 101 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: this Desperate Remedies, and that was published in eighteen seventy one. 102 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: Although initially hard He left his name off of it. 103 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: When a new edition was published in eight he wrote 104 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: a preface to it, acknowledging its tendency to lean pretty 105 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: heavily on plot devices of popular fiction at the time 106 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: writing quote. The following story, the first published by the author, 107 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: was written nineteen years ago, at a time when he 108 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: was feeling his way to a method. The principles observed 109 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: in its composition are no doubt too exclusively those in 110 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: which mystery, entanglements, surprise, and moral obliquity are depended on 111 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: for exciting interest. During this time in Hardy's life and 112 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: his early literary career, he was still working in architecture 113 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: to make ends meet when he left London. First he 114 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: went back to work with John Hicks and then moved 115 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: on to a more lucrative position at the firm of G. R. 116 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: Crick May. And it was in his architectural work that 117 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: he was called to look at a church in Cornwall 118 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: and to make a report on its condition. That was 119 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,919 Speaker 1: on March seventh, seventy. When he got there, the rector 120 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: was in bed sick and the rector's wife was taking 121 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: care of him, so the person who readed him was 122 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: the rector's sister in law. Emma living at Gifford. They 123 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: sat and talked, and Hardy was really smitten. Emma is 124 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: often described as vivacious and smart as a whip, and 125 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: for her part, learning that this architect's assistant also wrote 126 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: fiction made him really alluring to her, and before too 127 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: long they were courting. Emma became an incredibly significant figure 128 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: and influence on Hardy's life and work, So we really 129 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: want to make sure we take time to talk about 130 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: her background here for a bit. She was born the 131 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: same year as Hardy eighteen forty, although her birthday was 132 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: several months after his on November. But aside from birth year, 133 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,239 Speaker 1: they had very very different starts in life. Whereas Thomas 134 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: was the oldest child in the family, Emma was the 135 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: youngest of five. She grew up in wealth in a 136 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: house that prioritized intellectual pursuits. So though Hardy was working 137 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: in a respectable job and offered Emma intellectual engagement, there 138 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: was a very significant class separation between them, which persisted. 139 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: She recorded in her account of their first meeting how 140 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: shabby Hardy had looked. While they were first becoming a couple, 141 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: Hardy was working on his book Under the Greenwood Tree 142 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: that was published in eighteen seventy two, and it tells 143 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: the story of the mill Stock Parish Choir and the 144 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: people within it. But his next work, called A Pair 145 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: of Blue Eyes, was obviously deeply influenced by Emma's presence 146 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: in his life. The same year that Under the Greenwood 147 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: Tree was published, which was initially anonymously, Hardy was asked 148 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: to contribute a monthly fiction serial to Tinsley's magazine. That 149 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: fiction was A Pair of Blue Eyes, and Hardy took 150 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: a big leap of faith with that assignment because he 151 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: decided that he was going to leave his architecture job 152 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: and work on fiction full time. That was starting in 153 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: about the middle of eighteen seventy two. This meant that 154 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 1: he was giving up his steady income without much promise 155 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: of a few sure. Tinsley's magazine was fairly new, having 156 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: been established in eighteen sixty seven, and it was subheaded 157 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: as Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Light Literature. The owner, William Tinsley, 158 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: had had some success in the magazine and publishing field, 159 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: but it also been known to mismanage money just terribly 160 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,119 Speaker 1: and had gone through several bankruptcies before founding Tinsley's magazine, 161 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: but soon another literary magazine, Cornhill Magazine, also asked Hardy 162 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,719 Speaker 1: for a serialized story, and this resulted in Far from 163 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: the Matting Crowd, Hardy's famous pastoral novel about Bathsheba, Everdeene 164 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: and the Three Men Vuying for her Love. Cornhill had 165 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: a much larger readership than Tinsley's, and Hardy's work developed 166 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: a following through this publication. The serialized story was published 167 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,199 Speaker 1: in book form in eighteen seventy four, and it established 168 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,599 Speaker 1: so many of the hallmarks of Hardy's work. It is 169 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: said in Wessex, where many of his fictional works take place, 170 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: in juxtaposes the idyllic surroundings against the challenges and difficulties 171 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 1: of life. That same year it was published in book form, 172 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: Thomas Hardy married Emma Gifford. Their courtship had been going 173 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: on for four years at that point, and Thomas had 174 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: made regular trips to visit Emma in Cornwall since their 175 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: first meeting, and this was no small feat. He actually 176 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: had to take four different trains just to get there, 177 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 1: which was something that Emma called the nights move because 178 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: of its similarity to chess. Any time that he traveled 179 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: to Cornwall for work, he spent as much time as 180 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: possible with Emma, and they would take long walks together. 181 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: She also wrote about how he would um She would 182 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,719 Speaker 1: ride her horse slowly and he would walk alongside, and 183 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: they would just go for miles, which is quite charming. 184 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: One story goes that a walk that took them to 185 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 1: Tintagel Castle had them so moony over one another that 186 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:52,959 Speaker 1: they didn't even notice that the castle was closing to 187 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: visitors for the day, and they ended up locked in. 188 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: They got out of the castle only after they waved 189 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: their handkerchiefs at people outside in the cove below the castle, 190 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: and then someone came to unlock the doors. But though 191 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: they had clearly established their devotion to one another, this 192 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: marriage was vehemently discouraged by their families. There were very 193 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: real concerns that this class difference between them would prove 194 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: to be too difficult to overcome. Emma's family thought that 195 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: she would be marrying down. Hearty's family thought that he 196 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: could never keep a spouse who had been raised in 197 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: that kind of privilege really happy. But the two of them, 198 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: they did not listen to their family's wishes. They got 199 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: married on September four, and then they went on a 200 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: honeymoon in France. The marriage was not quite what either 201 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: of them had anticipated, and we will talk about that 202 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: after we have a sponsor break the Hearties first several 203 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: years of marriage were a little bit no matic. They 204 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,839 Speaker 1: stayed primarily in London, but they moved from home to home, 205 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: and during this time Thomas Hardy's output was a little 206 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: bit hit or miss. He was writing, and he was 207 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,319 Speaker 1: writing consistently, but the quality was not consistent. In eighteen 208 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,080 Speaker 1: seventy six he published a comedic commentary on social conventions 209 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: titled The Hand of Ethelberta. This had also been a 210 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: serialized piece for Courthnhill magazine following the success Afar from 211 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: the Matting Crowd, and it's about a young woman who 212 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: grew up poor than married a wealthy man who dies 213 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: before Ethelberta is even twenty one, leaving her a very 214 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: well off widow. She then takes up a writing career 215 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,439 Speaker 1: while hiding that her family is working class and choosing 216 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: a second husband from several suitors. This is generally considered 217 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: Thomas Hardy's weakest work, but in eighteen seventy eight he 218 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: started another novel, which began as a serial, this time 219 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: publishing in the fiction magazine Bell Grava. This work, The 220 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: Return of the Native, was much better received than the 221 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: Hand of Ethelberta, but it still didn't get the kind 222 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: of critical praise that Far from the Matting Crowd had. 223 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: Like his other work, you can see him echoing the 224 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: things that he was experiencing in his personal life. The 225 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: novelists set in Egdon Heath that's the Hearty's fictional part 226 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 1: of Wessex, and it tells the story of Eustacia Vai 227 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: who finds herself in an unhappy marriage to clym Yeobright, 228 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: who's a native of the area and the person referenced 229 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: in the title. So that unhappy marriage was likely informed 230 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,680 Speaker 1: at least to some degree by what was playing out 231 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: in the Hardy Home, because right from the beginning of 232 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: their life together, Emma had been unhappy, as basically everyone 233 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: who knew them predicted would happen. She did not particularly 234 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: enjoy living in London. For example, she couldn't go horseback riding, 235 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: which was one of her favorite activities in Cornwall, and 236 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: she did not really like being a writer's wife, even 237 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: as and perhaps a specially as that writer became famous. 238 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: Emma was so enchanted by Thomas talking about his efforts 239 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: to become a writer when they first met, because she 240 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,080 Speaker 1: also wanted to be a writer, but he was not 241 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: especially supportive of her efforts in her own writing, and 242 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: he seemed to be pretty dismissive of it. In the 243 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: early eighteen eighties, Hardy turned out three more novels, The 244 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: Trumpet Major in eighteen eighty, Ala to Sean in eighteen 245 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: eighty one, and Two on a Tower in eighteen eight two. 246 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: The Trumpet Major was set in eighteen o four and 247 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: tells the story of a romance that plays out against 248 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: the backdrop of Napoleon's army invading. Two on a Tower 249 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: is the story of a woman who falls in love 250 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: with an astronomer, only to have that romance obstructed. The 251 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: most different of these books is a Lao to Sean, 252 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: which Hardy worked on while he was really sick and 253 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: thought he might not live the story of a woman 254 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: who inherits a castle and hires architects to work on it, 255 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 1: and then finds herself a acted to each of them. 256 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: We don't know for certain what illness Hardy was dealing 257 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: with at this point, but later in his life he 258 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: said it was bladder inflammation. In eighteen eighty three, the 259 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: Hearties moved to Dorchester, in southern England, not far from 260 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: where Thomas had grown up. This was once again intended 261 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: to bolster his health, particularly after he had gone through 262 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: that illness while writing, but there had also always been 263 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: this distinct awareness when they were in London that he 264 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: had grown up in a far lower social class than 265 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: most of the people he knew and his wife, so 266 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: he was probably kind of eager to leave for that 267 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: reason as well. In Dorset, Hardy acquired a plot of 268 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: land and designed a home for it, which was called 269 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: max Gate. His brother, who had followed in their father's 270 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: line of work, did the stonework for max Gate, and 271 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: so for the first time, after a decade of marriage, 272 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: the Heartys had a home that was theirs, not a rental, 273 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: and all of that nomadic moving around London was over. 274 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighties six, Hardy published The Mayor of Casterbridge, 275 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: and this book reflects his new life in Dorchester. The 276 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: writing includes pieces of the place's history interwoven into the 277 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: fictional plot, and it also has locations from around Dorchester 278 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: used as settings for various events. The mayor referenced in 279 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: the title is the character of Michael Henchard, who had 280 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: become the mayor of Casterbridge after having grown up in 281 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: a life of poverty and being a laborer. Hardy's next 282 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: novel was The Woodlanders. This book published in eighteen eighties seven, 283 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: after having run as a series in McMillan's magazine. It 284 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: is once again a critique of class divisions and makes 285 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: clear that it has become all too common for people 286 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: of higher social status to be lauded as great, even 287 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,760 Speaker 1: though they are often morally corrupt, while honest, good people 288 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: of lower social standing are not afforded the same praise. 289 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 1: That whole book is set in the timber industry and 290 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: a family business. After The Woodlanders, Hardy published a collection 291 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: of some of his short story which had appeared in 292 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: various magazines over the years. This was titled Wessex Tales. 293 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: He published several similar collections and the remaining years of 294 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: his career. In eighteen ninety two, Hardy had worked on 295 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: a serialized story titled The Well Beloved. A sketch in 296 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,159 Speaker 1: Temperament actually had a different title initially, but that's what 297 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 1: it's known for these days. But unlike his other serialized works, 298 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: it was not published right away as a novel. The book, 299 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 1: whose protagonist falls in love with a woman and then 300 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: with her daughter, and then with her granddaughter, is very 301 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: critical of marriage. It was eventually reworked, possibly because Emma 302 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: was unhappy at the thought of the original being novelized, 303 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: and it was released as the last of Hardy's novels 304 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety seven, but was not the last he 305 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: had written. In eighteen ninety one, Tessa the Derbervilles was 306 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: released as a three volume novel after running as a 307 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: serial in the magazine Graphic. This novel is considered one 308 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: of his best. It relays the story of a young 309 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: woman named Test derby Field, whose father discovers he's actually 310 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: descended from a noble family, the Derbervilles. Tests is sent 311 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 1: to the Derberville mansion to make their case, and the 312 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: derby Field family hopes that these wealthy Derbervilles will confer 313 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,679 Speaker 1: a fortune upon Tests once they realize they're related. But 314 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: Tess is seduced by a son of the family and 315 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: gives birth to a child who dies as a baby. 316 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: Her life continues to unravel from that point and she's 317 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: just stuck in a life that has no hope at 318 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: happiness and that leads her to desperate action. This novel 319 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,640 Speaker 1: was originally criticized for the perceived immorality of the main character, 320 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: although Hardy's intent was to show a woman who was 321 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: victimized by a social hierarchy and the power that hierarchy 322 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: allows people to wield to the ruination of others. In 323 00:18:55,840 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: Hardy published his most bleak work, to the Obscure ass 324 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: is once again a significant element and a driver of 325 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: the story, with the titular character of Jude wanting to 326 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: pursue higher education but instead having to become a stonemason. 327 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,239 Speaker 1: He is also lured into an unhappy marriage and then 328 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,159 Speaker 1: is abandoned by his wife and falls in love with 329 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: his cousin, Sue, who marries another man in her own 330 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: unhappy match. The two Jude and Sue eventually lived together 331 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,479 Speaker 1: as a couple, but as they are unmarried, there are 332 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: a lot of obstacles that come up in their lives. 333 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: The Danue mole of this book is ultimately unhappy, and 334 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: like Tests, the book was criticized for encouraging immorality. It 335 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,199 Speaker 1: is also today considered one of his best works. The 336 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: harsh criticism of these two novels is sometimes mentioned as 337 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: a possible reason why Hardy went back to his first 338 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: literary love of poetry after publishing Jude the Obscure. Though 339 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: he had turned to serial fiction and novels as a 340 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: way of making a living as a writer, he had 341 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:04,119 Speaker 1: always continued to write in After finally publishing his much 342 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 1: edited Novelization of the Well Beloved, Hardy published his first 343 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: book of verse, which was titled Wessex Poems. It had 344 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: a preface that read, quote of the miscellaneous collection of 345 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: verse that follows. Only four pieces have been published, though 346 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: many were written long ago and others partly written. In 347 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: some few cases the verses were turned into prose and 348 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: printed as such, it having been unanticipated at that time 349 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,560 Speaker 1: that they might see the light. This book seemed to 350 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: critics almost a curiosity. Hardy had illustrated the book himself. 351 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: He also makes a note in the preface that like oh, 352 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: those illustrations might not have anything to do with the text, 353 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: they're just there um. And while some of the poems 354 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: are very straightforward, others are verse fiction, much of a 355 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: historical For example, of these two variations, one is titled 356 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: to a Lady offended by a book of the writers, 357 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: and it opens with now that my page up closes, 358 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: doomed maybe never to press thy cozy cushions more, or 359 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,479 Speaker 1: wake thy ready yays as heretofore, or stir thy gentle 360 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: vows of faith in me. In contrast, the poem Leipzig, 361 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: which has the date eighteen thirteen as a subtitle, is 362 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: set up with a scene note at the beginning quote 363 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: the master Tradesman's parlor at the Old Ship in Casterbridge evening, 364 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: and it features a German character known as Old Norbert 365 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: who relays a story about his mother's life. During the 366 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: late eighteen nineties, I kept finding various dates Emma moved 367 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: into the attic at max Gate, making it her own 368 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: sort of apartment. They actually had work done to make 369 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 1: it like a cute little livable space, and she would 370 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: take her breakfast in lunch there when she was not 371 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,639 Speaker 1: out or entertaining. She did continue to have dinner downstairs, 372 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: although at this point her marriage with Thomas was more 373 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: or less non existence in terms of the two of 374 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: them having a real and shared life together. Several years later, 375 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: in nineteen o three, Hardy started publishing an epic poetic 376 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: drama titled The Dinasts. It's a drama, but one that 377 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,560 Speaker 1: was never intended for the stage. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, 378 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: that first volume alone contains six acts and thirty five scenes. 379 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,360 Speaker 1: The writing uses historical events as the framework to tell 380 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: the stories of the people impacted, as well as to 381 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: offer up commentary by spirits and intelligences. In nineteen o five, 382 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,360 Speaker 1: Hardy had a meeting with a young woman named Florence 383 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: Emily doug Dale at max Gate. This was a significant meeting, 384 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: and we are going to talk about Florence after we 385 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors who keep stuff you missed in 386 00:22:47,359 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: history class going. That meeting between Thomas Hardy and Florence 387 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: Dugdale had been initiated as a fan letter. Florence wrote 388 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: to Hardy and said she loved his work and would 389 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,199 Speaker 1: love to visit him. And he wrote her back and 390 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,959 Speaker 1: he said sure. He only asked that she sent a 391 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: card a day or two ahead of time to give 392 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,880 Speaker 1: him notice. Florence would later relay this story as though 393 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,239 Speaker 1: it was Mrs Hardy she was supposed to meet at 394 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,119 Speaker 1: max Gate, although why she altered that story as a 395 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: matter of speculation. She also told several different versions of 396 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: how she and Emma would have met to support that. 397 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: Even her siblings all got different versions. Apparently none of 398 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: those were true. Um Florence was a writer of children's 399 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 1: books as well as a local theater critic, and she 400 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 1: had greater literary ambitions. Hardy claimed, after having talked to 401 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: her a couple of times, that he needed research assistance 402 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: for the rest of the Dynasts, and she was enthusiastic 403 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 1: about helping him. Florence was in her mid twenties at 404 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 1: the time she was born on January twelfth, eighteen seventy nine. 405 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: Her father, Edward Dugdale, was the headmaster of St Andrew's 406 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: National School for Boys. Florence was well educated and trained 407 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: as a teacher, which was her primary vocation. Writing was 408 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: her side job. She taught at her father's school, just 409 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: as he had been with Emma. Hardy was quite taken 410 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: with Florence. He wrote and published a poem titled After 411 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,439 Speaker 1: the Visit, which opens with the stanza, come again to 412 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: the place where your presence was as a leaf that 413 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,520 Speaker 1: skims down a drowsy way, whose ascent but dims the 414 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: bloom on the farer's face. The poem goes on to 415 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: note the smell of the flowers in the air, the 416 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: beauty of the changing colors of the clouds, and quote 417 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: the large, luminous living eyes regard me in fixed, inquiring 418 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: wise as those of a soul that wade scarce consciously 419 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 1: the eternal question of what life was. Yeah later in life, 420 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: when he republished that poem, he wrote a subhead that 421 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: it was to F. E. D. S. So at that 422 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,160 Speaker 1: point everyone knew it was for her. For the next 423 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 1: several years, Florence became more and more ensconced in life 424 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: at max Gate, although she was living in London, so 425 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: traveling back and forth to Dorset was actually a lot. 426 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: She served as a research assistant, a friend, and eventually 427 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: an editor for both of the Hearties. Uh Emma was 428 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: writing her own novels for a bit, including one that 429 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: is about a woman who is the muse for all 430 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: of her husband's work. A lot of autobiographical stuff going 431 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: on in their writing. There has actually been a great 432 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: deal of speculation about whether or not Florence and Thomas 433 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: started up a romantic relationship during this time. Depending on 434 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,160 Speaker 1: the biography you read, people will say with certainty what 435 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,480 Speaker 1: they think it is as though it is fact, but 436 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: we don't really have any evidence. They were certainly very 437 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,239 Speaker 1: close and they spent a lot of time together, and 438 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: they even traveled together to visit hearties friends, but we 439 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: don't know anything with certainty. It does appear that Emma 440 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: didn't know that Florence was helping Thomas at first. Florence 441 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: had introduced herself to Emma at a lecture that Emma 442 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: had given at the Lyceum Club, and the two had 443 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,680 Speaker 1: become friends. And for a while this was a tenuous 444 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:19,399 Speaker 1: situation because each spouse thought Miss Dougdale was their friend. 445 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,119 Speaker 1: There was some competition and even fights over it. This 446 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: seems like a super healthy dynamic. Oh my goodness, listen, 447 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,760 Speaker 1: I have thoughts from the behind the scenes um. In 448 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: nineteen eight, Thomas Hardy was offered a knighthood and he 449 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: turned it down. The reasons for this decision are a 450 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: little unclear. There is one speculation that is kind of 451 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: the salacious version, that had he accepted the knighthood, it 452 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: would have made Emma Lady Hardy and given her a 453 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: title which she would have enjoyed, and he declined just 454 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: to prevent her from having it. We do know that 455 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 1: he made that decision without talking it over with his wife. 456 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,120 Speaker 1: But Hardy was also again the entire idea of honors 457 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: like knighthoods, and it's just as likely that he turned 458 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: it down because he didn't want to appear like one 459 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: of the villainous people of privilege in his many novels 460 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: about classism. He did, however, accept the Order of Merit In, 461 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: perhaps because that particular award was in recognition of persons 462 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,399 Speaker 1: who quote may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards the 463 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: advancement of art, literature, and science, so it would have 464 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 1: felt less like a class related honor and based truly 465 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: on his own achievement. In late nineteen twelve, Emma Hardy 466 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,680 Speaker 1: was unwell. She had been an avid cyclist for years, 467 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,119 Speaker 1: but she started to find that her rides were just 468 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,360 Speaker 1: too taxing. She hired a maid named Dolly, who was fourteen. 469 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 1: Dolly was a great comfort to her. She didn't seem 470 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: to mind carrying meals and other necessities up and down 471 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,159 Speaker 1: the stairs to the attic. Emma refused to have a 472 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: doctor visit, and Thomas dropped the subject, but by the 473 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,760 Speaker 1: end of November she was no longer interested in food. 474 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: She visited with some friends on November twenty five, that 475 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,919 Speaker 1: was the day after her birthday, and they saw that 476 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: she was unwell, but they chalked it up to depression. 477 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: On the twenty six Emma consented to have a doctor 478 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,959 Speaker 1: visit that she did not agree to a physical exam. 479 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: The doctor thought she had made herself unwell by refusing 480 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: to eat, and she died the next day. At this point, 481 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: the Hardys had been married for thirty eight years, although 482 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: about half of that most people would say was fairly estranged. 483 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: After Emma died, Thomas discovered a manuscript called Some Recollections, 484 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: which was a biography about her life up until her marriage, 485 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: and another work titled What I Think of My Husband. 486 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: Parts of Recollections were actually incorporated into an autobiography that 487 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: Hardy worked on later, and he is said to have 488 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: burned What I Think of my Husband after reading it. 489 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: Over the years, the exact role of Emma Hardy and 490 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: the nature of her personality have in the focus of 491 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: a lot of theorization and discussion and presumption. Some friends 492 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: of Hardy described her in tremendously negative ways. Those descriptors 493 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: have stuck around through the years. They're often repeated, but 494 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: also considered as though their fact, with no context for 495 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: their larger relationship. Hardy's family his sisters in particular, were 496 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: known to tell people all kinds of damaging things about Emma. 497 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: She has been described as snobbish, spoiled, and even crazy, 498 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: as jealous and ridiculous, but it's been pretty rare for 499 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: historians to really look at her life and seek out 500 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: what she was actually like. She was, for example, a 501 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: vocal advocate for animal rights, and she was active in 502 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: the anti vivisection movement. She wanted reforms for the poor, 503 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: to improve the education of underprivileged children, and she wanted 504 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: teachers to be in quote an exalted position. She was 505 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 1: also deeply invested the suffrage movement, and she was known 506 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: to throw spectacular parties at max Gate. Hardy himself seems 507 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: to have recognized after Emma's death that their estrangement was 508 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: not solely her doing. He mourned not just for her, 509 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: but for having lost what they had when they met 510 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: at thirty and became really infatuated with one another. Some 511 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: of this suggests that he just never came to terms 512 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: with either the idea that a person is never the 513 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: idealized version that you may have in your head, or 514 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: the notion that people grow and change. He had wanted 515 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: the Emma he believed her to be when they married, 516 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: and then finding out she might be anything other than 517 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: that was something he had never really made space for. Additionally, 518 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: Hardy was known to at minimum flirt a lot with 519 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,720 Speaker 1: other women, sometimes in long drawn out series of correspondence, 520 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: and just as we can't know for certain if things 521 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: ever became physical or otherwise inappropriate it in his relationship 522 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: with Florence while Emma was still alive, we also don't 523 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: know with certainty if he ever had affairs with anyone else. 524 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: In an article written by Jane Thomas in the Hearty 525 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: Society Journal, in the writer sums up the situation in 526 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:24,400 Speaker 1: this way quote, there is evidence that Emma was difficult, embarrassing, irritating, demanding, childish, aggressively, religious, 527 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: and perhaps even a trifle mad towards the end. There 528 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: is also evidence that she was disappointed, neglected, discouraged, excluded, 529 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: pushed aside, and suffered very much whatever she might have 530 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: gained for being the partner for the best part of 531 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: forty two years of a famous man who was married 532 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: to his work and with whom she had looked forward 533 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: to an active creative partnership based on mutual love of literature. 534 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: It can be pretty easy to assume that Emma and 535 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: Thomas Hardy lived entirely separate lives by the time she 536 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 1: moved into the attic, but she had actually been doing 537 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: a lot of the kinds of work that Florence Dugdale 538 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: started doing. Throughout her husband's career. She had, for example, 539 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: kind of done all that secretarial stuff and helped with 540 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 1: research and and helped keep all of his contracts in order. 541 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: And Emma had begun to feel, whether justified or not, 542 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: that she had done a lot of work to support 543 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: her husband's career over the years, and that she had 544 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: gotten nothing in return. She had, according to Hardy's own admission, 545 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: been the one to decide that he should give up 546 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: architecture and take the risk of a life of writing. 547 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: And the years after Emma's death, Hardy's output was significant, 548 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: and his regret over their life together was a significant 549 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: motivator for that output. He told a friend that many 550 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: of those poems had simply come to him after Emma died, 551 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: saying quote one looked back through the years and saw 552 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: some pictures. One of those poems was After a Journey, 553 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: in which he writes, in part quote, yes, I have 554 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: re entered your olden haunts at last, the places where 555 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: you often used to go through the years, through the 556 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: dead scenes. I have tracked you. What have you now 557 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: found to say of our past? Viewed across the dark 558 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: space wherein I have lacked you. Summer gave us sweets, 559 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: but autumn wrought division. Things were not lastly as firstly 560 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: well with us, Twain you tell, But all's closed now 561 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: despite time's derision. I see what you were doing. You 562 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,560 Speaker 1: were leading me onto the spots we knew when we 563 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,640 Speaker 1: haunted here together often used to go the waterfall above 564 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: which the mist bow shone, and the then fair hour 565 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: in the then fair weather, and the cave just under, 566 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: with a voice still so hollow that it seems to 567 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 1: call out to me from forty years ago, when you 568 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: were all aglow, and not the thin ghosts that I 569 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: now freely follow. After a Journey and many other poems 570 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: about Emma were public is in nineteen fourteen as a 571 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: group called Poems of nineteen twelve nineteen thirteen. That book 572 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: came out after Hardy had married Florence Dougdale, who moved 573 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,840 Speaker 1: into max Gate shortly after Emma's death. Later, Florence would 574 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 1: say of the retrospective love poems Thomas had written to Emma, quote, 575 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: all the poems about her are a fiction, but a 576 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: fiction in which their author has now come to believe. 577 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: Various biographers have characterized Florence as not really in love 578 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: with her much older husband, but definitely in a state 579 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 1: of deep admiration for his work. But that's changed a 580 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: little in recent years due to several letters that came 581 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: to light in twenty These letters were written to a 582 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: former student named Harold Barlow at various points in his life. 583 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: The verse was written in February nineteen fourteen, when Barlow 584 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 1: was in Africa. Florence wrote, quote, perhaps you have read, 585 00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,719 Speaker 1: if you have the English papers, that I am now 586 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,840 Speaker 1: the proud and very happy wife of the greatest living 587 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: English writer, Thomas Hardy. Although he is much older than myself, 588 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 1: it is a genuine love match on my part, at least, 589 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: for I suppose I ought not to speak for him. 590 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:15,360 Speaker 1: At any rate, I know I have for a husband 591 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: one of the kindest, most humane men in the world. 592 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: She also shared with Barlow her chagrin at their marriage 593 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: being a matter of public interest, writing quote, accounts of 594 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: me and my portrait have been printed in every paper 595 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 1: I think in England, I have been shown in the cinematograph, 596 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: written about all over America and Europe. I am tired 597 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,360 Speaker 1: of this publicity. Since Barlow was not someone with a 598 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,160 Speaker 1: platform to publicize these personal missives, there appears to be 599 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: no motivation to write so lovingly of Hardy, unless she 600 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: just meant it. The two of them lived together seemingly, 601 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,320 Speaker 1: very happily for the next fourteen years, during which Hardy 602 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: wrote every single day. In December of Hardy developed pleurasy. 603 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 1: When he was sick for several weeks. On January eleven, 604 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: his doctor visited in the evening, and then after the 605 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 1: physician left, Hardy had a heart attack and died. Florence 606 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,759 Speaker 1: wrote to Harold Barlow again several years after Hardy's death, 607 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,800 Speaker 1: telling her friend and former student quote, I am writing 608 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,399 Speaker 1: this late in the evening, alone in the room where 609 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: I first met my husband. A little French bulldog is 610 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: snoring by the fire. He is my faithful and generally 611 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: my only companion. I thank you for your kind words. 612 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: Of sympathy about my great loss. It was such a 613 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: wonderful thing to live in close association with that great 614 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: mind and that noble personality. After having lived fourteen years 615 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:42,319 Speaker 1: with such a companion, it is little wonder that I 616 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: feel intolerably lonely and find the world very empty today. 617 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: Max Gate is part of the National Trust and it's 618 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 1: open to the public. Oh, Thomas Hardy in your marriage 619 00:36:53,920 --> 00:37:00,280 Speaker 1: is Um that was a little bit of a longy. 620 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: So I actually have a different thing than listener mail, 621 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: which is just that I wanted to mention that we 622 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:12,680 Speaker 1: recently did our first live stream and we had wonderful 623 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: people that got take us to it and had like 624 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,279 Speaker 1: a very lively chat going on the whole time, which 625 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,319 Speaker 1: was beautiful to see. And then you and I got 626 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 1: to do calls with a number of people, several dozen 627 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: people afterwards, and it was just really really wonderful and 628 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:31,799 Speaker 1: sort of reinvigorating. And um, I I knew that I 629 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 1: had really been missing live shows, but like it brought 630 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 1: into incredibly sharp focus how much I missed connecting with everyone. 631 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: So I want to thank everyone who was part of 632 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,920 Speaker 1: that and Loop Live because they were great to us. 633 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: It was just such a fun night and I am 634 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:51,319 Speaker 1: eternally grateful, and I just wanted to say that if 635 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, we'll do I'll 636 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: do listener mail again in the future. I just wanted 637 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 1: to get all that out. You could do so at 638 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: History Podcast at i heart radio dot com. You can 639 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: also find us on social media as missed in History 640 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:05,400 Speaker 1: And if you would like to subscribe to the show, 641 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 1: that is a simple, simple procedure. You can do that 642 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,120 Speaker 1: on the I heart radio app or really anywhere you 643 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:17,919 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History 644 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: Class is a production of I heart Radio. For more 645 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 646 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.