The Return of the Native

by Hardy, Thomas (Author); Slade, Tony (Editor)

• ISBN13: 9780140435184
• ISBN10: 0140435182
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

'You are ambitious, Eustacia - no, not exactly ambitious, luxurious. I ought to be of the same vein, to make you happy, I suppose.' Tempestuous Eustacia Vye passes her days dreaming of passionate love and the escape it may bring from the small community of Egdon Heath. Hearing that Clym Yeobright is to return from Paris, she sets her heart on marrying him, believing that through him she can leave rural life and find fulfilment elsewhere. But she is to be disappointed, for Clym has dreams of his own, and they have little in common with Eustacia's. Their unhappy marriage causes havoc in the lives of those close to them, in particular Damon Wildeve, Eustacia's former lover, Clym's mother and his cousin Thomasin. The Return of the Native illustrates the tragic potential of romantic illusion and how its protagonists fail to recognize their opportunities to control their own destinies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
General Editor's Preface	viii
Chronology: Hardy's Life and Works	xi
Map: The Wessex of the Novels	xv
Bibliographical Note	xvi
Introduction	xix
Further Reading	xxxvii
A Note on the History of the Text	xxxix
The Return Of The Native	1	(396)
Notes	397	(32)
Appendix A: Preface to the 1895 Edition and Postscript to the 1912 Edition	429	(6)
Appendix B: A Note on the Illustrations and the Map of the Novel	435	(9)
Glossary	444