Originally published in 1947 and presenting the famed poet-novelist against the background of contemporary thought and society, Harvey Curtis Webster shows that Hardy's later works give consistent evidence of hope; that pervasive pessimism was by no means the keynote of Hardy's thought.
On a Darkling Plain traces the evolution of Hardy's thought, from faith, through disillusionment, to a cautious belief in the ultimate progress of man.
1. The Starting Point. 2. Flux and Reflux. 3. A Young Man’s View of Existence. 4. Man’s Quandary. 5. The Nature of the Universal. 6. To the Better. 7. Another Starting-Point. 8. Notes.
Biography
Harvey Curtis Webster