Article #110-2 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, by Thomas Hardy

I include amongst them the reviewers—by far the majority—who have so
generously welcomed the tale. Their words show that they, like the
others, have only too largely repaired my defects of narration by their
own imaginative intuition.

Nevertheless, though the novel was intended to be neither didactic nor
aggressive, but in the scenic parts to be representative simply and in
the contemplative to be oftener charged with impressions than with
convictions, there have been objectors both to the matter and to the
rendering.

The more austere of these maintain a conscientious difference of
opinion concerning, among other things, subjects fit for art, and
reveal an inability to associate the idea of the sub-title adjective
with any but the artificial and derivative meaning which has resulted
to it from the ordinances of civilization. They ignore the meaning of
the word in Nature, together with all aesthetic claims upon it, not to
mention the spiritual interpretation afforded by the finest side of
their own Christianity. Others dissent on grounds which are
intrinsically no more than an assertion that the novel embodies the
views of life prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century, and not
those of an earlier and simpler generation—an assertion which I can
only hope may be well founded. Let me repeat that a novel is an
impression, not an argument; and there the matter must rest; as one is
reminded by a passage which occurs in the letters of Schiller to Goethe
on judges of this class: “They are those who seek only their own ideas
in a representation, and prize that which should be as higher than what
is. The cause of the dispute, therefore, lies in the very first
principles, and it would be utterly impossible to come to an
understanding with them.” And again: “As soon as I observe that any
one, when judging of poetical representations, considers anything more
important than the inner Necessity and Truth, I have done with him.”

Explanation

This excerpt is from the Preface to the Fifth and Later Editions of Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman (1891) by Thomas Hardy, one of the most controversial and thematically rich novels of the Victorian era. The passage is Hardy’s direct response to the critical reception of his work, offering a defense of his artistic intentions while engaging with broader debates about literature, morality, and realism. Below is a detailed breakdown of the text, its context, themes, literary devices, and significance—with primary focus on the excerpt itself.

1. Context of the Excerpt

Hardy wrote Tess during a period of intense social and literary transition. The late 19th century saw clashes between:

Victorian moralism (which demanded didactic, uplifting literature) and naturalism (which portrayed life’s harsh realities).
Traditional religious views (emphasizing purity as chastity) and Hardy’s humanistic perspective (questioning societal definitions of virtue).
Romantic idealism (e.g., Goethe, Schiller) and modern skepticism (e.g., Darwinian science, which influenced Hardy’s view of fate).

The novel’s subversive portrayal of Tess—a "fallen woman" who is nonetheless labeled "pure"—sparked outrage among conservative critics. Hardy’s preface is a meta-commentary on these debates, clarifying (and sometimes deflecting) his intentions.

2. Line-by-Line Analysis of the Excerpt

First Paragraph: The Generous Reviewers

"I include amongst them the reviewers—by far the majority—who have so generously welcomed the tale. Their words show that they, like the others, have only too largely repaired my defects of narration by their own imaginative intuition."

Tone: Hardy begins with ironic gratitude. While he acknowledges positive reviews, the phrase "repaired my defects" suggests that even sympathetic critics misread or overcompensated for his intended ambiguities.
Literary Device: Paradox—critics "repaired" flaws by imposing their own interpretations, implying that the novel’s power lies in its open-endedness (a key feature of Hardy’s style).
Theme: Subjectivity in Art. Hardy hints that literature is collaborative; readers (and critics) complete the work through their own perceptions. This aligns with reader-response theory (though predating it).

Second Paragraph: The Novel’s Intentions

"Nevertheless, though the novel was intended to be neither didactic nor aggressive, but in the scenic parts to be representative simply and in the contemplative to be oftener charged with impressions than with convictions, there have been objectors both to the matter and to the rendering."

Key Claims:
1. Anti-Didacticism: Hardy rejects the Victorian expectation that novels should teach moral lessons. Tess is not a sermon but a portrayal of life.
2. "Representative simply": The novel’s scenic/descriptive elements (e.g., Wessex landscapes) are realistic, not symbolic or allegorical.
3. "Impressions, not convictions": In contemplative (philosophical/reflective) passages, Hardy prioritizes emotional and sensory truth over dogmatic arguments. This reflects impressionism in literature (e.g., focusing on mood over plot).
Critics’ Objections: Some readers wanted clear moral judgments (e.g., condemning Tess’s "sin"), but Hardy resists this, emphasizing ambiguity.

Third Paragraph: The "Austere" Critics

"The more austere of these maintain a conscientious difference of opinion concerning, among other things, subjects fit for art, and reveal an inability to associate the idea of the sub-title adjective ['Pure'] with any but the artificial and derivative meaning which has resulted to it from the ordinances of civilization."

"Austere" Critics: Likely religious conservatives who believed art should uphold moral purity (i.e., chastity = virtue).
Key Conflict:
- Civilization’s Definition of "Pure": Society equates purity with virginity, a social construct Hardy challenges.
- Nature’s Definition: Hardy argues that innocence and integrity (Tess’s true "purity") exist outside societal rules. This reflects Rousseauian naturalism (nature as morally superior to civilization).
- Spiritual Interpretation: Hardy invokes Christianity’s "finest side"—likely referencing Jesus’ forgiveness of "sinners" (e.g., the woman taken in adultery, John 8:7) to justify Tess’s moral worth.

Fourth Paragraph: Generational and Philosophical Divides

"Others dissent on grounds which are intrinsically no more than an assertion that the novel embodies the views of life prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century, and not those of an earlier and simpler generation—an assertion which I can only hope may be well founded."

Historical Context: Critics complained that Tess reflected modern cynicism (e.g., Darwinian determinism, skepticism about free will) rather than romantic idealism.
Hardy’s Response: He embraces this accusation, suggesting that modern perspectives (e.g., life as governed by fate and biology, not moral absolutes) are more honest.
Literary Device: Irony—he "hopes" the criticism is valid, implying that truth is more important than nostalgia.

Final Paragraph: Schiller’s Defense of Art

"Let me repeat that a novel is an impression, not an argument; and there the matter must rest; as one is reminded by a passage which occurs in the letters of Schiller to Goethe on judges of this class: ‘They are those who seek only their own ideas in a representation, and prize that which should be as higher than what is.’"

Hardy’s Manifesto: A novel should evoke, not lecture. This aligns with aestheticism (art for art’s sake) but also with realism (art as a mirror to life).
Schiller’s Quote:
- Critics project their biases onto art, valuing what they think should exist over what actually is.
- This echoes Hardy’s fatalism: Life is not moral or just, and art must reflect that.
Second Schiller Quote:
"As soon as I observe that any one, when judging of poetical representations, considers anything more important than the inner Necessity and Truth, I have done with him."
- Inner Necessity and Truth: Hardy’s art prioritizes psychological and emotional authenticity over moralizing. Tess’s tragedy is inevitable (due to social structures, fate, and human nature), not a lesson.

3. Themes in the Excerpt

Art vs. Morality:
- Hardy rejects the idea that literature must uphold societal norms. Tess is descriptive, not prescriptive.
Nature vs. Civilization:
- "Pure" is redefined from a social construct (virginity) to a natural/spiritual state (innocence, integrity).
Realism and Impressionism:
- The novel captures life’s ambiguities rather than offering clear answers.
Fatalism and Determinism:
- Hardy’s view of life as governed by external forces (fate, biology, class) clashes with Victorian optimism.
The Role of the Reader:
- Meaning is co-created by the text and the reader’s imagination (a proto-postmodern idea).

4. Literary Devices

Irony: Hardy’s "grateful" tone masks frustration with critics.
Paradox: Critics "repair" flaws by misreading the text.
Allusion: References to Schiller and Goethe align Hardy with Romantic/idealist traditions while defending realism.
Juxtaposition: Contrasts civilization’s "artificial" morality with nature’s "true" purity.
Metatextuality: The preface comments on its own reception, blurring the line between text and context.

5. Significance of the Excerpt

Hardy’s Literary Theory:
- The passage is a manifest for naturalist fiction—art should observe, not judge.
Victorian Controversies:
- The debate over Tess reflects cultural anxieties about female sexuality, class, and religious hypocrisy.
Modernist Foreshadowing:
- Hardy’s emphasis on impressions over arguments anticipates stream-of-consciousness and ambiguous narratives (e.g., Woolf, Joyce).
Feminist Implications:
- By defending Tess’s "purity," Hardy challenges the double standard that condemns women for sexual "transgressions" while excusing men.
Existential Resonance:
- The excerpt grapples with the search for meaning in a godless universe—a theme central to Hardy’s later works (e.g., Jude the Obscure).

6. Connection to the Novel Itself

The preface mirrors Tess’s story:

Just as Tess is misjudged by society (seen as "impure" despite her innocence), the novel is misread by critics who impose their own moral frameworks.
Hardy’s defense of impressions over convictions reflects Tess’s subjective experience—her suffering is real, regardless of societal labels.
The fatalistic tone ("the matter must rest") echoes the novel’s tragic ending, where Tess’s fate is sealed by forces beyond her control.

Conclusion

This excerpt is Hardy’s artistic creed—a defense of realism, ambiguity, and emotional truth in an era that demanded moral clarity. By invoking Schiller, he aligns himself with Romantic individualism while pushing toward modernist fragmentation. The passage is not just about Tess but about the purpose of literature itself: to reveal life as it is, not as we wish it to be. In doing so, Hardy challenges the reader to confront uncomfortable truths—about purity, fate, and the limits of human judgment.

Questions

Question 1

The passage’s allusion to Schiller’s letters to Goethe serves primarily to:

A. elevate Hardy’s argument by associating it with canonical German idealism, thereby lending it an air of philosophical authority.
B. highlight the universality of artistic misinterpretation across different cultural and historical contexts.
C. underscore the futility of engaging with critics who prioritize moral didacticism over aesthetic experience.
D. frame the dispute over Tess as a fundamental clash between those who demand art conform to preconceived ideals and those who value its fidelity to inner truth.
E. suggest that Hardy’s detractors are intellectually inferior, as they fail to grasp the subtleties of Romantic literary theory.

Question 2

The phrase “repaired my defects of narration by their own imaginative intuition” (first paragraph) is best understood as:

A. a modest acknowledgment of the novel’s technical flaws, which Hardy believes were compensated for by readers’ creativity.
B. an ironic critique of reviewers who, in their enthusiasm, imposed interpretations that obscured the text’s intended ambiguities.
C. a paradoxical compliment to sympathetic critics, whose active engagement with the text inadvertently transformed its perceived weaknesses into strengths.
D. a defense of the novel’s impressionistic style, which deliberately invites readers to fill in narrative gaps with their own meanings.
E. an admission that the novel’s success relies more on readers’ projections than on Hardy’s authorial skill.

Question 3

Hardy’s claim that “a novel is an impression, not an argument” (final paragraph) is most fundamentally a rejection of:

A. the Victorian expectation that literature should provide clear moral guidance to its readers.
B. the naturalist belief that fiction must adhere strictly to observable reality without philosophical embellishment.
C. the romantic notion that art should transcend the mundane to evoke sublime emotional states.
D. the assumption that a work’s value lies in its capacity to persuade or convince rather than to evoke and provoke.
E. the modernist tendency to fragment narrative coherence in favor of subjective perceptual experiences.

Question 4

The “austere” critics’ inability to associate the sub-title adjective “Pure” with anything but “the artificial and derivative meaning” suggests that they:

A. are incapable of recognizing literary irony, mistaking Hardy’s subversive use of the term for sincere endorsement.
B. adhere to a rigid, civilization-bound morality that cannot accommodate the novel’s naturalistic redefinition of virtue.
C. reject the possibility that spiritual or aesthetic interpretations of purity could coexist with societal conventions.
D. misread the novel as a didactic treatise rather than a nuanced exploration of human experience.
E. are primarily concerned with the novel’s historical anachronisms, such as its departure from earlier moral frameworks.

Question 5

The passage’s overarching argumentative strategy is best described as:

A. a polemical attack on conservative critics, using Schiller’s authority to dismiss their objections as intellectually bankrupt.
B. a conciliatory gesture that acknowledges valid criticisms while subtly redirecting attention to the novel’s artistic merits.
C. a meta-critical reflection on the nature of literary judgment, exposing the subjective and often contradictory bases of critical reception.
D. an appeal to the emotional resonance of the novel, prioritizing readers’ affective responses over analytical or moral assessments.
E. a defense of artistic relativism, wherein the meaning of a work is entirely contingent on the interpretive community that engages with it.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: D

Why D is most correct: The Schiller allusion is not merely decorative or ad hominem (as in A or E) but structural to Hardy’s argument. Schiller’s distinction between critics who demand art conform to “what should be” (their ideals) and those who value “inner Necessity and Truth” (art’s fidelity to its own logic) directly maps onto Hardy’s defense of Tess. The passage frames the controversy as a fundamental disagreement about the purpose of art: whether it should serve external moral agendas (critics’ position) or reflect an internal, necessary truth (Hardy’s position). This is the core tension the allusion illuminates.