Tess of the d'Urbervilles

In Our Time: Culture

BBC

History

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2016

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, originally serialised in The Graphic in 1891 and, with some significant changes, published as a complete novel in 1892. The book was controversial even before serialisation, rejected by one publisher as too overtly sexual, to which a second added it did not publish 'stories where the plot involves frequent and detailed reference to immoral situations.' Hardy's description of Tess as 'A Pure Woman' in 1892 incensed some Victorian readers. He resented having to censor some of his scenes in the early versions, including references to Tess's baby following her rape by Alec d'Urberville, and even to a scene where Angel Clare lifted four milkmaids over a flooded lane (substituting transportation by wheelbarrow).

The image above, from the 1891 edition, is captioned 'It Was Not Till About Three O'clock That Tess Raised Her Eyes And Gave A Momentary Glance Round. She Felt But Little Surprise At Seeing That Alec D'urberville Had Come Back, And Was Standing Under The Hedge By The Gate'.

With

Dinah Birch Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool

Francis O'Gorman Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds

And

Jane Thomas Reader in Victorian and early Twentieth Century literature at the University of Hull

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time, for more details about in our time, and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:08.0	UK slash Radio 4. I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.0	Hello, Thomas Hardest Tess of the Derurbavills first appeared in 1891
0:14.9	serialized each week in the graphic from July to November and simultaneously
0:18.7	New York and Sydney. It's one of the greatest of Hardy's novels, some think the greatest.
0:24.0	The greatest.
0:25.0	Readers were thrilled are outraged by the character of Tess Derbyfield
0:28.0	and the complexities of her sexual desire and desirability,
0:32.0	her modesty and allure and her torture at the hands of her
0:36.2	author. Many praise the story highly, while to others it was a clumsy, sordid tale of
0:41.0	boorish brutality and lust.
0:43.0	Despite the financial success, Harney was angry that he'd had to censor his story for serialization.
0:49.0	He soon reinstated the cuts for the book edition, adding the subtitle a pure woman faithfully presented with divided
0:56.1	opinion even further.
0:58.0	With me to discuss Tess of the Durbavills are Diana Birch, Professor of English
1:02.0	literature and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Louisville,
1:06.0	Frances of Gorman, Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds,
1:10.0	and Jane Thomas, Reader in Victorian and Early 20th Central Literature, at the University of Hull.
1:16.0	Dina, can you give us a snapshot of Thomas Hardy's early life?
1:21.0	Well, the first thing to note is that it was a very rural childhood. He was born in Dorset,
1:27.7	1840 just three years after Queen Victoria came to the throne. He was very much a Victorian. It was a strong family. His father, another Thomas Hardy, was Stomason, a builder, not hugely successful, but they were not desperately poor.
1:44.4	His mother was a very important influence on his life and is the source of much of his thinking
	...

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