Desperate Remedies

The first full scholarly edition of Desperate Remedies (1871), Thomas Hardy's first published novel.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Richard Nemesvari (Edited by)

9781107036925, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 August 2019

626 pages, 3 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.8 x 3.8 cm, 1.03 kg

Hardy's first published novel, Desperate Remedies (1871), a piece of sensation fiction that encompasses illegitimacy, murder, blackmail, impersonation, and bigamy, was originally published anonymously. Written while, in Hardy's own words, he was 'feeling his way to a method', it nonetheless contains early examples of the kinds of extreme situations and emotions that continued to play a significant role in his later plots. As part of The Cambridge Edition of the Novels and Stories of Thomas Hardy, this edition of the novel provides an authoritative text; full scholarly apparatus that allows the reader to trace Hardy's creative process; an introductory essay discussing the work's composition, publication, and critical reception; and comprehensive explanatory notes.

List of illustrations
General editor's preface
Acknowledgements
Chronology
Abbreviations
Introduction
Desperate Remedies
Editorial emendations
List of variants - accidentals
End-of-line word division
Appendix A. Hardy's prefatory notes
Appendix B. Frontispieces
Appendix C. Description of principal texts
Explanatory notes.

Subject Areas: Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]