The Well-Beloved

The Well-Beloved Kısa Özet

The Well-Beloved completes the cycle of Hardy`s great novels reiterating his favorite themes of man`s eternal quest for perfection in both love and art, and the suffering that ensues. Jocelyn Pierston, celebrated sculptor, tries to create an image of his ideal woman -his imaginary Well-Beloved- in stone, just as he tries to find her in the flesh. Powerful symbolism marks this romantic fantasy that Hardy has grounded firmly in reality with a characteristically authentic rendering of location, the Isle of Slingers, or Portland as we know it. Overt exploration of the relationship between erotic fascination and creativity makes this novel a nineteenth-century landmark in the persistent debate about art, aesthetics and gender.

This volume breaks new ground by including in full the 1892 serialised version of the novel -The Pursuit of the Well- Beloved.