Browsing by Author "Abdus Salam (Khalis)"

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    Romanticism in Hardy's Novels: The Agony of Sensibilities
    (Department of English, University of Peshawar, 2002) Abdus Salam (Khalis); Supervised by Dr. Mujeed Rahman
    Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is a rare literary figuE: a novelist and a poet of very outstanding calibre, having a unique epic drama and some critical articles and reviews to his credit as well. "lhough his Career as a novelist (1871-1895) is much shorter than that as a poet, he is generally celebrated as a great novelist. His keen understanding of the eternal human sentiments and — a universal sensitivities has rendered his works — novels, in particular human heritage. That is why he is one of the very few English novelists who are equally read, reviewed •and appreciated abroad as at home. The vast range Of his — occasional adversity — of readers and critics has naturally led to diversity opinions and interpretations regarding his art. Certain concepts, notions and terms, however, are so recurrently applied to his works that they have almost become his marks of identification. These term* include Fatalism, Determinism, Pessimism, Agnosticism and 'Meliorism' etc. Most of them have typical philosophical orientation, reflective of the Victorian tendency of analyzing all modes Of human perception and expression, including those of art and aesthetics, from intellectual angle, deriving therein philosophical and scientific convictions, like the ones denoted by these terms. This thesis deviates from all such studies, as it attempts to disentangle Hardy's fictional art from the typical Victorian fetters by assigning to it more universal perspectives and connotations. The basic contention is that Hardy's literary and aesthetic concerns are the product of sensibilities, feelings and impressions, and that intellectual convictions can never cover them appropriately. Thus we have attempted to 100k at his art from a more relevant, convenient and interesting angle, that Of 'Romanticism', reinterpreting his themes, ideals, characters and plots according to the deeper dimensions of this purely aesthetic term. It does not mean that so far no attempt has been made to study Hardy's works from this perspective. As stated in the Literature Review, some critics and biographers have used the term in reference to Hardy. But they have taken the outer dimensions of romanticism, like appreciation of Nature and rural culture, mostly in a strictly early nineteenth Century perspective, hence proving Hardy to be more akin to Wordsworth and Coleridge than to Shelley, Byron and Keats. As reflected by the subtitle of the thesis — 'The Agony Of Sensibilities' — this discussion focuses on the deeper human dimensions of romanticism in Hardy's novels, redefining the term 'Romanticism' itself in a deeper and more universal sense. It leads one to conclude that Hardy's was a romantic heart in a Victorian frame, and if we liberate him from the intellectual compulsions of the age in which he lived, a more interesting and more convincing interpretation of his art can be derived, exonerating him from many of the stereotypical notions projecting his image as a pessimist.