Thomas Hardy

Hardy, Thomas (1840–1928), English novelist and poet. His first successful novel was Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). Nine others, including The Return of the Native (1878) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), appeared over the next 20 years. Jude the Obscure (1895), partially autobiographical, so offended Victorian morality that Hardy abandoned novels but continued writing poetry. His epic verse drama The Dynasts (1903–08) and his later lyric poetry are highly regarded. The “last of the great Victorians,” Hardy influenced 20th-century English literature. His view of life was essentially tragic, his characters often seeming to be victims of malignant fate.