Palgrave Advances in Thomas Hardy Studies explores the key issues in the ongoing and lively debate about Thomas Hardy's work as a novelist and poet. In twelve newly-commissioned essays, distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic review, take issue with and take forward the most recent and significant research on Thomas Hardy.

ROGER EBBATSON Professor of English Studies, University College, Worcester, UK JOHN HUGHES Lecturer, School of Humanities, University of Gloucestershire, UK CHARLES LOCK Professor of English Literature, University of Copenhagen, Denmark ROSEMARIE MORGAN Fellow, Yale University, President of the Thomas Hardy Association and Vice President of the Thomas Hardy Society RICHARD NEMESVARI Assistant Professor, Department of English, St Xavier University, Canada RALPH PITE Lecturer, School of English, University of Liverpool, UK ANGELIQUE RICHARDSON Lecturer, School of English, University of Exeter, UK MARY RIMMER Department of English, University of New Brunswick, Canada LINDA M. SHIRES Professor of English, Syracuse University, USA JOHN POWELL WARD Formerly University of Swansea and poet/critic, UK JAMES WHITEHEAD Radley School, UK

Chronology Notes on Contributors Introduction; P.Mallett Hardy and the Critics; C.Lock Hardy and His Readers; R.Nemesvari Hardy and Biography; R.Pite Editing Hardy; R.Morgan Hardy and Class; R.Ebbatson Hardy, Victorian Culture, and Provinciality; M.Rimmer Hardy and Science; A.Richardson Hardy and Sexuality; P.Mallett Hardy and Englishness; J.Whitehead Visual Inspiration in Hardy's Fiction; J.Hughes Hardy and Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Poetics; L.M.Shires Hardy's Aesthetic of Imperfection: Poetic and Social Connotations; J.P.Ward Bibliography Index