Date of Award

7-31-1968

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Joseph Schwartz

Abstract

With some sense of deep satisfaction, Thomas Hardy, seated in his study at Max Gate, thoughtfully perused his finished creation, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. In his judgment it was good- and she was good. He took a sheet of paper and drafted a title page to supersede the copy he had previously sent. It read:

Tess of the D'Urberville

A Pure Woman

Faithfully Presented by Thomas Hardy

In Three Volumes

"Poor wounded name! My bosom as a bed Shall lodge thee."

Of the sub-title, Hardy later wrote at the end of his prefaces to Tess in March, 1912: "It was appended at the last moment, after reading the final proofs, as being the estimate left in a candid mind of the heroine's character - an estimate nobody would be likely to dispute. It was disputed more than anything else in the whole 1 book. Melius fuerat non scribere."1

Download

Share

COinS