Life of Thomas Hardy

The first thing to know about this book, since the title is confusing, is that it is the life of Thomas Hardy, written almost entirely by him and published in two volumes under his wife's name after his death. This was his wish, and the reasons for it are complex and not fully understood, though his wife's preface and the scholarly introduction give some useful information. Hardy began writing it over a decade before his death, updating periodically; his wife finished it and, after consulting with friends and literary advisors, deleted some material and made a few additions. The former consisted mostly of frequent railing against critics; such outbursts were very understandable from a writer who had been often, harshly, and unfairly eviscerated but now seem moot since time has proven him right. Few will miss them or the other major deleted material, which mostly recounted social visitors to Hardy late in life. Hardy went from a humble background to world fame and acclaim, and it would be hard to begrudge him listing prominent callers, but he had a lifelong disdain for such accolades and probably just included this because he thought most would be interested. His close friends understandably wanted it removed, especially as they did not want him to come off as a social climber. Additions were mostly second- or third-hand anecdotes. All told, changes were significant in number but altered the book in only a very minor way. Several editions now exist, the most prominent being that edited by Michael Millgate, which tries to restore Hardy's intent, has extensive editorial material detailing changes, and includes added text as an appendix. The present edition has the work as published and, being a budget edition, lacks extensive bonus material, but is quite generous considering the price. There is an extensive Introduction detailing the complicated history as well as other background material that does a good job of setting the book up for the uninitiated; a Hardy chronology; a short bibliography; notes on many of the people mentioned; and an invaluable index. It is perfect for anyone wanting the original publication or an affordable and generally comprehensive version. As Hardy was modest, avoided the limelight, and had an extremely dim view of human significance generally, it might be surprising that he wrote an autobiography. His wife's preface indeed says he refused for years, saying he lacked "sufficient admiration for himself" but eventually yielded to her strong request to clear up widespread errors. The book's great unconventionality belies a lack of enthusiasm, but one would hardly expect Hardy to write a conventional autobiography, and it is arguably the better for it. It begins conventionally enough with family history and early incidents, proceeding year by year until death. However, it soon becomes very atypical. Hardy clearly had little use for typical rites of passage. For example, though going into significant detail about the courtshi