Far from the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd, Hardy’s passionate tale of the beautiful, headstrong farmer Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors, firmly established the thirty-four-year-old writer as a popular novelist. According to Virginia Woolf, “The subject was right; the method was right; the poet and the countryman, the sensual man, the sombre reflective man, the man of learning, all enlisted to produce a book which . . . must hold its place among the great English novels.” Introducing the fictional name of “Wessex” to describe Hardy’s legendary countryside, this early masterpiece draws a vivid picture of rural life in southwest England. This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the 1912 Wessex edition and features Hardy’s map of Wessex. |
Contents
Description of Farmer OakAn Incident | 1 |
Night The FlockAn Interior Another Interior | 7 |
A Girl on HorsebackConversation | 15 |
Gabriels ResolveThe VisitThe Mistake | 24 |
Departure of BathshebaA Pastoral Tragedy | 34 |
The FairThe JourneyThe Fire | 40 |
RecognitionA Timid Girl | 51 |
The Malthouse The ChatNews | 55 |
NightHorses Tramping | 223 |
In the SunA Harbinger | 232 |
Home AgainA Trickster | 240 |
At an Upper Window | 251 |
Wealth in JeopardyThe Revel | 256 |
The StormThe Two Together | 265 |
RainOne Solitary Meets Another | 273 |
Coming HomeA Cry | 277 |
The HomesteadA VisitorHalfConfidences | 74 |
Mistress and Men | 81 |
Outside the BarracksSnowA Meeting | 88 |
Farmers A RuleAn Exception | 94 |
Sortes SanctorumThe Valentine | 100 |
Effect of the LetterSunrise | 105 |
A Morning MeetingThe Letter Again | 110 |
All Saints and All Souls | 121 |
In the MarketPlace | 124 |
Boldwood in MeditationRegret | 127 |
The SheepWashingThe Offer | 132 |
PerplexityGrinding the Shears A Quarrel | 138 |
Troubles in the FoldA Message | 145 |
The Great Barn and the SheepShearers | 152 |
Eventide A Second Declaration | 163 |
The Same NightThe Fir Plantation | 170 |
The New Acquaintance Described | 177 |
Scene on the Verge of the HayMead | 181 |
Hiving the Bees | 191 |
The Hollow Amid the Ferns | 195 |
Particulars of a Twilight Walk | 201 |
Hot Cheeks and Tearful Eyes | 209 |
Blame Fury | 214 |
On Casterbridge Highway | 282 |
Suspicion Fanny Is Sent For | 289 |
Joseph and His BurdenBucks Head | 300 |
Fannys Revenge | 312 |
Under a TreeReaction | 323 |
Troys Romanticism | 331 |
Its Doings | 337 |
Adventures by the Shore | 344 |
Doubts AriseDoubts Linger | 347 |
Oaks AdvancementA Great Hope | 353 |
The Sheep FairTroy Touches His Wifes Hand | 359 |
Bathsheba Talks with Her Outrider | 375 |
Converging Courses | 383 |
ConcurriturHore Momento | 394 |
After the Shock | 406 |
The March Following Bathsheba Boldwood | 411 |
Beauty in LonelinessAfter All | 416 |
A Foggy Night and MorningConclusion | 426 |
Notes | 433 |
Reading Group Guide | 467 |
A Note on the Text | 469 |
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Common terms and phrases
appeared Bathsheba began believe better Boldwood called Casterbridge CHAPTER church close Coggan coming continued course dark dead direction don't door entered Everdene eyes face Fanny farm Farmer feeling felt followed Gabriel girl give gone hand Hardy head hear heard heart hill hope horse hour Joseph keep kind knew known late leave less Liddy light lived looked ma'am Mark marry matter mean mind minutes Miss mistress morning moved nature never night once opened passed perhaps person poor Poorgrass present reached replied returned road round seemed seen Sergeant sheep shepherd side smock-frock soon sound speak standing stood suppose sure tell thing thought tone took trees Troy true turned voice wait walked Weatherbury wife wish woman women young