HARDY'S MINOR FICTION

A glance at the table of Hardy's published work given at the end of the Introduction shows that the six novels I have discussed are the smaller part of Hardy's output. Together with Under the Greenwood Tree, they constitute the seven Novels of Character and Environment – by any standards Hardy's major work.’ Apart from these there are the Romances and Fantasies (four novels and one volume of short stories), the three Novels of Ingenuity and a volume of stories entitled A Changed Man. I intend in this chapter to say something about the two most significant of the Romances separately, then something about the remaining novels and then something about the short stories.

It is best to be frank about this minor work. My view is that it is minor and that its principal use is as an aid to the greater understanding of the major work. I think that the educated reader can enjoy A Pair of Blue Eyes and The Trumpet-Major in isolation, and perhaps some of the stories, but I think that the greatest value of the other novels is for the Hardy student or enthusiast for whom they will amplify aspects of the major work. A study of ‘Hardy's heroines’ or ‘Hardy and religion’ will profit from a consideration of the minor novels; considered in their own right they have an undoubted fascination but cannot honestly be seen as great literature.