New-York tribune., 1912-04-06
THOMAS HARDY
His Comments on His Life's
Labors.

>
Labors.
That many, II any, stand as they
would stand if written now is not TO be
supposed" That is a sentence taken
from the general preface which Mr.
Hardy. has prepared TO accompany the
forthcoming "Wessex Edition" Of his
works. His admirers. we believe, will
not he sorry that those works are not
to he written now" for the authors
determined preference for his poetry
scarcely indicates an Improvement in his
taste.
For the purposes Of this new and
defnitive edition Mr.. Hardy has arranged
his fiction in three groups, Novels Of
Character and Environment" "Ro-
mances and Fantasies" and Novels Of
Ingenuity" The first group includes
Tess" Far from the Madding Crowd /"
The Return of the Native The Mayor
Of Casterbridge," The Woodlanders, T."
Jude the Obscure" Under the Green
wood Tree" "Life's Little Ironles and
a Few Crusted Characters" and Yves
sex Tales" The romanCes and fantasies
include "A Pair Of Blue Eyes" The
Trumpet Major" "A Group of Noble
Danes" 1.-TWO on q Tower" and The
Well Beloved" The novels of ingenuity
are The Hand OF Ethel5erta," "Des-
pcrate Remedies" and "A Laodicean."
These classificatiOns seem rather arbi-
trary and INTERCHANGEABLE. but We are
not disposed to quarrel with the making
thereof. He says, apropos Of his ar
rangement:
In accepting a proposal for dehnluNc
edition OF the productions I'm prose and
verse ! have found an opportunity OF ciaS-
styling the novels under heads that snow
approximately the authors aim, II not his
achievement. in each book of the series at
the date Of its composition. Sometimes the
aim was lower than at other tmcS. some
times, where tho intention was primarily
high, force Of circumstances (amOng which
the chief were the necessities 0t magazine
publication compelled a modification, great
or Slight, OF the original plan Or low
however, of In" longer novels, ana or many
of the shorter tales il may be assumed
that they sand to-day much as they would
have stood If no accidents had obSirucltu
the channel between the writer ana the
public. That many, II any, stand as thtE
would stand if written now Is not to be
supposed.
He thinks that his novels Of inge-
nuity" SHOW a disregard of the probable
chain Of events and depend for their in
terest mainly on the incidents them
selves. They might also be character
ized as Experiments and were written
for the nonce simply; though despite the
artifcialty Of their fable some of their
scenes are not without fidelity to
life
His verse. he tells us. s. 70 himself
the most individual part Of his literary
fruitagc and he adds that, unlike some
Of the fiction, nothing interfercd with
the writer's freedom in respect Of its
form or content.
Several of the poems-indced, maHy-Were
nroduCed before novel writing hdd Drrh
thought of a. pursuit, but few Saw th'
light till all the novels had been published.
The limited stage 10 which the majority OF
the latter Confnc their exhibitions mas hpt
been adhered to here IN the same prppoT-
tiou IN, dramatic part especially having
very broad theatre Of action. IT may thuS
relieve tho CirCUmScrlbcd areas treated III
the prose, II fUiu l'.ll't '' ll'''N's - ~
sIir. one might alLu. that 10y suT| oying
Europe from a celestial point of vision that
continent becomes virtually province
Wrssex an Attica, even a mere garden-
and hence does not depart from the pliucl-
ne of tho novels. however far IL outmrds-
ures their region. Hut that may be az II
viii
Mr.. Hardy SAYS that his few volumes
Of verse cover producing period o.
some eighteen years, while the seventeen
volumes of fiction represent about TWEEN
ty-four years "Ouc is reminded. h.
remarks by this disprcportion in time
and result how much more concise
and quintessential expression becomes
whatever its value-Whcn given in ryth-
mic form than when shaped in the Ian
guage Of prose" How glad would his
readers be to exchange all his verse for
ono more novel.