TY - BOOK ID - 12071440 TI - Thomas Hardy: Folklore and Resistance PY - 2016 SN - 113750319X 1137503203 PB - London : Palgrave Macmillan UK : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, DB - UniCat KW - Literature. KW - Literature KW - Literature, Modern KW - Fiction. KW - British literature. KW - Nineteenth-Century Literature. KW - British and Irish Literature. KW - Literary History. KW - History and criticism. KW - 19th century. KW - Hardy, Thomas, KW - Knowledge KW - Dorset (England) KW - Social life and customs KW - History. KW - Fiction KW - Metafiction KW - Novellas (Short novels) KW - Novels KW - Stories KW - Appraisal of books KW - Books KW - Evaluation of literature KW - Belles-lettres KW - Western literature (Western countries) KW - World literature KW - Philosophy KW - Appraisal KW - Evaluation KW - Author of Desperate remedies, KW - Author of Under the greenwood tree, KW - Desperate remedies, Author of, KW - Gardi, Tomas, KW - Ha-tai, KW - Ha-tai, Tʻo-ma-ssu, KW - Hārdī, Tūmās, KW - Hardy, Tomás, KW - Hardy, Tomasz, KW - Khardi, Tomas, KW - Under the greenwood tree, Author of, KW - 哈代托瑪斯, KW - Dorsetshire (England) KW - County of Dorset (England) KW - Dorseteschyre (England) KW - Literature, Modern-19th century. KW - Literature-History and criticism. KW - Novelists KW - Literature, Modern—19th century. KW - Literature—History and criticism. KW - Hārḍī, Thômasa, UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:12071440 AB - This book reassesses Hardy’s fiction in the light of his prolonged engagement with the folklore and traditions of rural England. Drawing on wide research, it demonstrates the pivotal role played in the novels by such customs and beliefs as ‘overlooking’, hag-riding, skimmington-riding, sympathetic magic, mumming, bonfire nights, May Day celebrations, Midsummer divination, and the ‘Portland Custom.’ This study shows how such traditions were lived out in practice in village life, and how they were represented in written texts – in literature, newspapers, county histories, folklore books, the work of the Folklore Society, archival documents, and letters. It explores tensions between Hardy’s repeated insistence on the authenticity of his accounts and his engagement with contemporary anthropologists and folklorists, and reveals how his efforts to resist their ‘excellently neat’ categories of culture open up wider questions about the nature of belief, progress, and social change. ER -