Drawing on aspects of Foucauldian feminist theory Thomas Hardy, Femininity and Dissent offers original and detailed readings of six critically under-valued novels: Desperate Remedies, A Pair of Blue Eyes, The Hand of Ethelberta, A Laodicean, Two on a Tower and The Well-Beloved , demonstrating Hardy's peculiarly modern appreciation of how individuals negotiate the forces which shape their sense of self. Tracing his interest in the evolutionary debate and the woman question this book reveals a new politically engaged rather than a grimly pessimistic Hardy.

Jane Thomas is Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Hull.

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Hardy and 'The Thinking World' The Question of 'Woman' Desperate Remedies (1871): The 'Martyrdom of Self-Conceit' A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873): Policing the Self The Hand of Ethelberta (1876): The Limits of Resistance A Laodicean (1886): Power and Agency Two on a Tower (1886): 'The Artificial System of Things' The Well-Beloved (1897): Galatea's Revenge Notes Bibliography Index