I’m not going to embark on a lengthy re-hashing of the story of “Tess” – most people must know the bare outline at least. “Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks but I never had the chance of discovering in that way and you did not help me!” When I was younger I think I needed a happy ending from my reading – and so the tragedy of “Tess” rather traumatised me. I have found once or twice before, that re-reading novels I first read in my late teens or early twenties and been underwhelmed by to be enormously rewarding. Embarking upon the Hardy reading challenge a couple of years ago I realised that not only would I have to face “Tess” again, but that I was actually rather looking forward to it. It was also the one I thought at one time, I would be loath to re-read.
I can’t remember exactly when I read “Tess” but for a long time it remained the one I thought I liked the least.
I first started reading Hardy when I was about eighteen, and devoured each of the novels and many of the short stories over the next two or three years. Even if you have never read Tess of the d’Urbervilles before, (which I had) upon taking this novel down from the shelf – you just know it’s going to be emotional.
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