Jude l'obscur

The well beloved

Dix archéologues amateurs, que la pluie oblige à renoncer à une excursion, se racontent à tour de rôle les amours malheureuses de jeunes femmes - souvent belles et fortunées - que leur immaturité ou leur ambition entraîne parfois dans des situations assez scabreuses. Victimes des conventions sociales, frustrées dans leurs désirs amoureux, ballottées entre des sentiments contraires, ces "nobles dames" sont les jouets du destin. Hardy nous offre une vision fort pessimiste du mariage, de l'amour et sous l'anecdote, tantôt humoristique, tantôt mélodramatique, il aborde "des sujets auxquels tout le monde pense mais dont personne ne souffle mot" pour souligner le côté mystérieux et parfois absurde de l'existence.

Nobles dames, nobles amours

Far from the Madding Crowd was Thomas Hardy's first major literary success, and it edited with an introduction and notes by Rosemarie Morgan and Shannon Russell in Penguin Classics.Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in the fictional county of Wessex, Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.

Loin de la foule déchainée

Angleterre, vers 1780. Le jeune Lord Uplandtowers a décidé de séduire Barbara, jeune fille de la noblesse locale, mais celle-ci lui préfère Edmond, fils d'un maître verrier. Le couple s'enfuit. Après une brouille temporaire due au scandale de cette mésalliance, ses parents pardonnent à Barbara, à condition qu'Edmond parte achever son éducation en France et en Italie.
Au cours de cette longue absence, la jeune femme apprend que son mari a été grièvement brûlé dans un incendie. Quand il revient enfin, son visage est dissimulé par un masque, mais Barbara ne supporte pas la vue de ses traits, une fois le masque ôté : Edmond la quitte, décidé à lui rendre sa liberté.
Le cours de sa vie change alors. Confrontée à un remords qui la ronge, à la vengeance atroce de son deuxième mari, son esprit commence à s'égarer...

L'homme masqué

In the small village of Little Hintock, Giles Winterborne tries to win the hand of his long-time sweetheart, Grace Melbury. Unfortunately, Grace's father disapproves of the match, and instead encourages his daughter to pursue her future elsewhere, leaving Giles to hope that his beloved one day returns to him. The Woodlanders was one of Thomas Hardy's most popular novels, and Hardy himself cited it as his favorite of his many stories. It has been adapted several times for film, television and radio. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

The Woodlanders

One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot. They were plainly but not ill clad, though the thick hoar of dust which had accumulated on their shoes and garments from an obviously long journey lent a disadvantageous shabbiness to their appearance just now.

The man was of fine figure, swarthy, and stern in aspect; and he showed in profile a facial angle so slightly inclined as to be almost perpendicular. He wore a short jacket of brown corduroy, newer than the remainder of his suit, which was a fustian waistcoat with white horn buttons, breeches of the same, tanned leggings, and a straw hat overlaid with black glazed canvas. At his back he carried by a looped strap a rush basket, from which protruded at one end the crutch of a hay-knife, a wimble for hay-bonds being also visible in the aperture. His measured, springless walk was the walk of the skilled countryman as distinct from the desultory shamble of the general labourer; while in the turn and plant of each foot there was, further, a dogged and cynical indifference personal to himself, showing its presence even in the regularly interchanging fustian folds, now in the left leg, now in the right, as he paced along.

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Deux yeux bleus (2e A(c)dition) / Thomas Hardy; traduit de l'anglais par A DEGREESve Paul-MargueritteDate de l'A(c)dition originale: 1913Ce livre est la reproduction fidA]le d'une oeuvre publiA(c)e avant 1920 et fait partie d'une collection de livres rA(c)imprimA(c)s A la demande A(c)ditA(c)e par Hachette Livre, dans le cadre d'un partenariat avec la BibliothA]que nationale de France, offrant l'opportunitA(c) d'accA(c)der A des ouvrages anciens et souvent rares issus des fonds patrimoniaux de la BnF.Les oeuvres faisant partie de cette collection ont A(c)tA(c) numA(c)risA(c)es par la BnF et sont prA(c)sentes sur Gallica, sa bibliothA]que numA(c)rique.En entreprenant de redonner vie A ces ouvrages au travers d'une collection de livres rA(c)imprimA(c)s A la demande, nous leur donnons la possibilitA(c) de rencontrer un public A(c)largi et participons A la transmission de connaissances et de savoirs parfois difficilement accessibles.Nous avons cherchA(c) A concilier la reproduction fidA]le d'un livre ancien A partir de sa version numA(c)risA(c)e avec le souci d'un confort de lecture optimal. Nous espA(c)rons que les ouvrages de cette nouvelle collection vous apporteront entiA]re satisfaction.Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr

Jude l'obscur

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