Laodicean

A Laodicean may be Thomas Hardy's weakest novel, but his mastery was such that it is more than worthy and quite respectable. Fans should read nearly everything he wrote before coming here but should definitely stop eventually, while those who have read a book or two and not found Hardy to their liking might consider skipping to it. Hardy put it with his "Novels of Ingenuity," and it not only differs markedly from most of his work but is also experimental to a large degree. This will likely disappoint those who like his other novels, though there are other attractions, while those not usually keen on Hardy may well be pleasantly surprised. These differences are the book's most immediately striking aspect. Hardy had made himself known for rural settings, specifically in Wessex - the part-real, part-dream country, based on his native Southwest England, that he made world famous. This initially seems another entry - and indeed is in part, though not considered a Wessex novel -, but quickly expands to cover much of Europe, while events in various other parts of the world loom large in the background. Some initial readers were disappointed, as some current ones may well be, but this is notable as an overlooked example of Hardy's diversity. A master of place, he brings European resorts and casinos as fully and stirringly alive as rural England. That said, this is not so much unusual per se as unusual for him; such jaunts were near-obligatory in Victorian fiction, especially among Europeans, and this does not particularly stand out. One critic indeed commented that it must be the dullest European trip ever detailed in fiction, and it is easy to agree. Hardy made good use of his own vacation in describing the scenes, but the action is prolonged and strained - a problem to a lesser extent with the plot generally; he sometimes seems to lose focus and continue from obligation only. The time is also noticeably more recent than usual. A Laodicean was published in 1881 and seemingly set not long before, while most of his fiction is set around 1830 or earlier. As such, we see technology - telegraphs, photographs - usually not present in Hardy. His work has generally been noted for showing modernity's ache - how modern technology's intrusion drastically changed a rural agricultural society that had been virtually the same for a thousand years. This novel does so in a different and perhaps more overt - if not more interesting - way than most, especially as symbolized in the great early scene where Somerset follows a lone telegraph wire through the middle of proverbial nowhere. Perhaps even more surprising is how Hardy uses such elements to advance fantastic plot devices - fake telegram and photo, etc. - of the kind seemingly abandoned in Desperate Remedies, an entry in the then popular sensation genre and his first published novel. An even stronger development in this way is the character of Dare, an embodiment of pure self-serving malice even more highly-wrou