Structure and meaning in Hardy's fiction: an examination of three major novels
type: CreativeWork
description: Thus, though there is a considerable amount of criticism on [Thomas Hardy’s] novels, there is a clear absence of any significant close structural reading. The study which follows proposes to fill this gap offering an examination of three novels that is neither synoptically nor microscopically limited, nor restricted to a particular critical angle. It offers simply a close structural analysis of Hardy’s fiction, considering individual novels as separate and cohesive artistic units. It returns to fictional plot, to a close examination of narrative orderings. It proposes to describe in detail the way in which structural technique crucially participates in the fiction’s overall aesthetic and thematic effect. It is an attempt to demonstrate that plot in the work is something more than mere obtrusive artifice. Rather, it will be implicitly argued, structure is so intimately and organically connected with Hardy’s vision of life that it is required by—part of, and inseparable from—the theme. The presumptions and suppositions underlying the study are loosely and simply Aristotelian, that meaning resides in and is revealed by structure, and that to understand theme it is necessary to see how the work is made, how blocks of event relate, interact, and cohere to form an aesthetically integrated whole. The study will, it is hoped, not repeat the past mistakes either of establishing algebraic or geometric patterns or of banishing “plot” from the respected critical lexicon surrounding the fiction. Instead, it will try to maintain the valuable insights and perceptions of the past and enhance them by considering again a too long neglected element. This, then, is the critical background and theoretic assumption motivating this present study; hence the first half of the title, "structure and meaning in Hardy's fiction.” There is, however, an important second part of the title, “an examination of three major novels.” It is usually assumed that in Hardy’s fictional work there are six ma…
abstract: Thus, though there is a considerable amount of criticism on [Thomas Hardy’s] novels, there is a clear absence of any significant close structural reading. The study which follows proposes to fill this gap offering an examination of three novels that is neither synoptically nor microscopically limited, nor restricted to a particular critical angle. It offers simply a close structural analysis of Hardy’s fiction, considering individual novels as separate and cohesive artistic units. It returns to fictional plot, to a close examination of narrative orderings. It proposes to describe in detail the way in which structural technique crucially participates in the fiction’s overall aesthetic and thematic effect. It is an attempt to demonstrate that plot in the work is something more than mere obtrusive artifice. Rather, it will be implicitly argued, structure is so intimately and organically connected with Hardy’s vision of life that it is required by—part of, and inseparable from—the theme. The presumptions and suppositions underlying the study are loosely and simply Aristotelian, that meaning resides in and is revealed by structure, and that to understand theme it is necessary to see how the work is made, how blocks of event relate, interact, and cohere to form an aesthetically integrated whole. The study will, it is hoped, not repeat the past mistakes either of establishing algebraic or geometric patterns or of banishing “plot” from the respected critical lexicon surrounding the fiction. Instead, it will try to maintain the valuable insights and perceptions of the past and enhance them by considering again a too long neglected element. This, then, is the critical background and theoretic assumption motivating this present study; hence the first half of the title, "structure and meaning in Hardy's fiction.” There is, however, an important second part of the title, “an examination of three major novels.” It is usually assumed that in Hardy’s fictional work there are six ma…
author: Votta, Richard J.
keywords: Thomas Hardy, Criticism and interpretation
date published: 1976-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:10:35Z
provider: Binghamton University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Binghamton University