ABSTRACT
Thomas Hardy presents a daunting challenge to scholars seeking comprehensive knowledge and understanding of this great literary figure. Born in 1840, just a few years after Victoria ascended the throne, he died a decade after the end of the First World War in 1928. He wrote prolifically throughout his long life, from his early years as a struggling architect-poet through decades of becoming an increasingly successful novelist and finally, in later years, as a lauded poet. Over the course of more than sixty years, he wrote fifteen novels, nearly fifty short stories, an epic drama and over a thousand poems.
