Description

Book Synopsis

With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex.

A Pair of Blue Eyes, though early in the sequence of Hardy's novels, is lively and gripping. Its dramatic cliff-hanging episode, for example, is at once tense, ironic, feministic and erotic.

With settings in Wessex and London, the novel also has some strongly autobiographical features, as the blue-eyed heroine, Elfride Swancourt, is based largely on Emma Gifford, who became Thomas Hardy's first wife. Elfride's vivacious nature attracts several lovers, but she is beset by sexual prejudice, and the ensuing ironies reveal the constraints of her times.

A Pair of Blue Eyes provides an engaging and moving experience for today's readers.

A Pair of Blue Eyes

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Fri 19 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Thomas Hardy, Cedric Watts, Dr Keith Carabine

    20 in stock

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      Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
      Publication Date: 05/12/1995
      ISBN13: 9781853262777, 978-1853262777
      ISBN10: 1853262773
      Also in:
      Classics Books by Thomas Hardy

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex.

      A Pair of Blue Eyes, though early in the sequence of Hardy's novels, is lively and gripping. Its dramatic cliff-hanging episode, for example, is at once tense, ironic, feministic and erotic.

      With settings in Wessex and London, the novel also has some strongly autobiographical features, as the blue-eyed heroine, Elfride Swancourt, is based largely on Emma Gifford, who became Thomas Hardy's first wife. Elfride's vivacious nature attracts several lovers, but she is beset by sexual prejudice, and the ensuing ironies reveal the constraints of her times.

      A Pair of Blue Eyes provides an engaging and moving experience for today's readers.

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