The Return of the Native

The first complete scholarly edition of Hardy's novel, with authoritative text, full apparatus, and rich explanatory materials.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Tim Dolin (Edited by)

9781107037779, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 February 2021

876 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 4.5 cm, 1.5 kg

This is the first complete scholarly edition of one of Hardy's greatest novels. The Return of the Native engages ambitiously with contemporary ideas and problems of existence, and would go on to become one of the major 'Wessex novels'. When composed in 1878, however, Hardy's Wessex did not yet exist, and this edition, which is based on meticulous analysis of Hardy's holograph manuscript and every significant print edition of the novel to appear in his lifetime, situates The Return of the Native within the historical context of its first publication, encouraging readers to trace its evolution over the following four decades. Tim Dolin provides a wealth of supporting materials, including an original, authoritative text, comprehensive annotation, commentary and glossary, and illustrated appendices of both Arthur Hopkins's illustrations and the topography of Egdon Heath, thus creating an invaluable tool for students and scholars of Hardy and nineteenth-century literature alike.

List of Illustrations
General Editor's Preface
Acknowledgements
Chronology
Abbreviations of Texts of The Return of the Native
Introduction
The Return of the Native
Apparatus
Variations in Punctuation and Styling
End-of-Line Word Division
Editorial Emendations
Appendices: Appendix 1. Hardy's Preface to the Novel
Appendix 2. Description of the Manuscript
Appendix 3. Description of Substantive Editions
Appendix 4. Dialect Glossary and Table of Changes to Standard and Non-standard Speech
Appendix 5. A Note on Hardy's Note to VI.iii
Appendix 6. Egdon Heath and the Dorset Heathlands
Appendix 7. Illustrations to the Belgravia Serial Edition
Notes
Works Cited in the Notes
Textual Notes
Explanatory Notes.

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