"Notes on contributors Preface A chronology of Hardys life and Publications List of abbreviations and texts 1 Thomas Hardy: the biographical sources 2 Wessex 3 Art and aesthetics 4 The influence of religion, science, and philosophy on Hardys writings 5 Hardy and critical theory 6 Thomas Hardy and matters of gender 7 Variants on genre: The Return of the Native, The Mayor of Casterbirdge, The Hand of Ethelberta 8 The patriarchy of class: Under the Greenwood Tree, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Woodlanders 9 The radical aesthetic of Tess of the dUrbervilles 10 Hardy and readers: Jude the Obscure 11 Hardy as a nineteenth-century poet 12 The modernity of Thomas Hardys poetry Index"