“Far
From the Madding Crowd,” by Thomas
Hardy, 1874
Far from
the maddening crowds in London is Wessex, a
rolling land of farms and villages in the English southwest near the coast,
including the possible towns of Casterbridge and Weatherbury. Wessex
plays much the same role for Hardy as Faulkner’s haunted Yoknapatawpha
County in Mississippi does – a ‘place’ he set his
literary roots.
The
plot? The effect on a few lonely men in
a small, weather-beaten town when a young and beautiful woman – Bathsheba Everdeen
- arrives and becomes a prominent farmer.
It is like a bomb going off. Though
vain and haughty, three men are struck by her beautiful fragments – a smart,
young sheep-herder, a block-headed gentleman farmer and a roguish, profligate
soldier. Twisted love in all its
blandishments results. Hardy favors the
capable sheep-herder over the twain, but not Bathsheba, who makes a coltish
mistake. A discerning reader may weary
of their tiresome obsession with Bathsheba.
It does not end well as you might divine, but then it does.
A cast of men
and women farm workers harvest corn, oats, wheat or sheer sheep and take care
of livestock, while house servants cook and clean. Bathsheba calls them 'the workfolk.' They are the Greek chorus that grounds this
tale in material reality and labor. Oh,
and one malter to get them all happy. The old sheep-shearing building on the
farm looms great in unchanging significance, far above any castle or church.
Wool has more meaning than religion or military power in this bucolic tale. These
are the people that do the work and they are not mere background.
Upon these
simple rustics are visited the qualities of tragedy and comedy experienced by archaic
kings. It seems at the same time that
every man-jack can sing or play or is required to, as the brightest times are
done up in fiddle, tambourine, dancing, ale and cider.
The class
issue is very clear, as Bathsheba Everdeen goes from young and broke to the owner
of a large estate through inheritance. Part
of her attractiveness is her money and status, unlike any poor but handsome washerwoman. Bathsheba becomes the lady of the house and
runs the farm herself – something few women would attempt at this time.
 |
| A romance or a story of collective labor? PBS 'workfolk' |
In the
story, small things lead to great calamities.
An overly-enthusiastic dog; a silly Valentine; a broken fence; a
boot-spur. Ignored nature plays its part
in fire and rain. Beware.
Details in
abundance overflow. Nature’s every
budding flower, trilling bird and blowing storm gets its time. Emotions down to the last grimace, blush,
stutter and thought. Class always
overhanging. Early feminism’s reluctance
to marry, as Ms. Everdeen is a comely modern woman. Her marital hesitation is unexplained, then oddly
broken. And there is humor – Hardy makes
fun of them all, unbeknownst to the players.
This includes his cynicism towards religion. Here the dullest bullocks crib their thoughts
from the Bible.
Old words,
clichés and phrases pepper the text. The
book involves many convoluted paragraphs that only resolve into understanding
at their termination. Even the names
have obvious significance: Bathsheba Everdeen, from the lustful Bible and
Anglo-Saxon farmsteads - her last name echoed in the Hunger Games films;
Oak, the sheep-herder; Boldwood, the older farmer; Troy, the soldier. Like southern gothic, English gothic also
invites a death or two. We ape the
writing of the greats – ‘tis normal for a lowly scrivener. Enjoy!
Other prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left: “Jude the Obscure” (Hardy); “Independent
People” (Laxness).
Bought at Chapman Street
Books, Ely Minnesota.
The Kultur Kommissar
June 29,
2020
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