|
The Hand of Ethelberta
Paperback / softback
Main Details
Title |
The Hand of Ethelberta
|
Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Thomas Hardy
|
|
Edited by Tim Dolin
|
|
Introduction by Tim Dolin
|
|
Notes by Tim Dolin
|
|
Preface by Patricia Ingham
|
Physical Properties |
Format:Paperback / softback | Pages:512 | Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129 |
|
Category/Genre | Classic fiction (pre c 1945) |
ISBN/Barcode |
9780140435023
|
Classifications | Dewey:823.8 |
---|
Audience | |
|
Publishing Details |
Publisher |
Penguin Books Ltd
|
Imprint |
Penguin Classics
|
Publication Date |
31 July 1997 |
Publication Country |
United Kingdom
|
Description
Hardy's London society comedy, and one of the most engaging and important of his early experiments in fiction. Adventuress and opportunist, Ethelberta reinvents herself to disguise her humble origins, launching a brilliant career as a society poet in London with her family acting incognito as her servants. Turning the male-dominated literary world to her advantage, she happily exploits the attentions of four very different suitors. Will she bestow her hand upon the richest of them, or on the man she loves? Ethelberta Petherwin, alias Berta Chickerel, moves with easy grace between her multiple identities, cleverly managing a tissue of lies to aid her meteoric rise. In The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), Hardy drew on conventions of popular romances, illustrated weeklies, plays, fashion plates and even his wife's diary in this comic story of a woman in control of her destiny.
Author Biography
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. His most famous works are Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). TIM DOLIN teaches English at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. He is also editor of the Penguin edition of Under the Greenwood Tree.
Reviews"The Hand of Ethelberta is ... a portrait of two artists - Ethelberta Petherwin and Thomas Hardy ..." --Tim Dolin
|