Born in 1840, Thomas Hardy developed into a consummate writer and one of England’s greatest novelists. At Max Gate (a house he designed himself), he spent hours each day developing the characters and plots which would become a literary bomb to the mores of Victorian society. When the reactionary noise of stilted critics finally became too much, he turned to a lifelong passion for verse (much of it the most intimate words he ever penned). In 1928, after affecting countless readers with his dazzling and evocative creations, he passed away. His heart was buried with his family, his body with the nation. He spirit remains in both places.
BBC’s The Heart of Thomas Hardy informs viewers of the major episodes between the beginning and end of this gargantuan literary life. Filled with personal chaos — and more than a little hubbub — Hardy enchanted readers while turning critics and authorities against him. He spoke his own voice and wrote his own characters — and in the course of doing so, enthralled a reading public.
Griff Rhys Jones is our documentary guide, as we explore the rural backwaters of Thomas Hardy’s Dorset and learn how he developed into a most spectacular, original, and dedicated writer. For virtually the whole of his 87 years, he ceaselessly put pen to paper — sometimes with success, sometimes with failure.
The impetus for so much of his imagination began in Dorset. It was there that his mother, Jemima, helped spawn in him a genuine love for stories and books. Long daily walks to school and back fostered a love for nature and observation.
By his early 20s, Hardy had been out of traditional schooling for a few years, working as an architect’s assistant. That interest brought him to the metropolis of London for a five-year period. But the rural area of Wessex (the name he would come to give to his recurring fictional world), was where he felt most at home.
At age 29, Hardy met — and quickly became infatuated with — a lady of the same age, named Emma Gifford. After a few years of passionate courting, the two lovebirds married. It was the beginning of a long and unfortunately declining relationship.
The documentary skillfully inserts dramatized scenes (and voice overs of his poetry) from some of Hardy’s most famous works, demonstrating how his novels sometimes mirrored his own life. The bride-to-be Emma was an inspiration for his 1872/73 serialized novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes.
The following year, 1874, the love-struck Thomas and Emma married (despite the ire that each of the families expressed toward the idea). Sad to say, perhaps they knew something that the newlyweds did not.
Indeed, although Emma was a kind of literary muse to Hardy for many years, the relationship eventually soured. (Viewers, however, aren’t much enlightened as to what initially precipitated this.) As the years went on, Emma increasingly faded in the eyes of her once doting husband. She was even “excluded from his working life,” a change of circumstances which was a source of considerable pain. As Hardy found his unique voice and his literary life rose in success, Emma found herself pushed more and more to margins of her husband’s life. Their marriage withered into a relationship which scarcely even existed by the time of her death. It was the sad end to a 38-year marriage.
But her passing stirred up dormant feelings of love. “With extraordinary energy, fueled by guilt and regret,” Jones tells us, Hardy composed some of his most heartfelt verses. One thinks of the sharp pangs and poignancy found in “The Voice” (lines of which are read in the film). The man who had been a novelist for over half a century was now a poet — and a formidable one at that.
Thanks in part to the support of his second wife, he kept writing verse until the very end of his days. When he died 1928, he left behind a formidable body of work. His novels — which had once fired up the ire of so many Victorian critics — went on to captive new audiences and new generations. Indeed they are still very much read today. What other kind of afterlife can an artist hope for?
While Thomas Hardy’s heart may be buried in Dorset, his spirit remains very much alive in the pages of his books. For viewers who may not have experienced the joys of a Hardy novel or poem, the documentary may be just the thing to encourage an exploration into some of the literary creations that came from this supreme English writer.
Spectatio 