Thomas Hardy, Monism, and the Carnival Tradition : The One and the Many in The Dynasts

greatest debt, however, is to three good friends and former colleagues who generously gave me their wise counsel on a number of occasions: Brian Jenkins, Tracy Ware, and David Bentley. My book has also benefited from much professional and technical expertise. I was fortunate to have two readers during the evaluation process who offered insightful suggestions for revision. At the University of Toronto Press, thanks go to my editor, Kristen Pederson, for her sympathetic advice, and to Jeannie Scarfe, Barbara Porter, and Diane Mew for their care in seeing the book through to its final form. My thanks as well to Cheryl Porter at Bishop's University for persevering so cheerfully in the preparation of the manuscript. Some of the research for this book was made possible by a grant from the Bishop's Senate Research Committee. Finally, I thank my wife and children who have endured the writing of this book with the patience, though not indifference, of Egdon Heath. The book is dedicated to them with love and respect.

In this original and scrupulously researched book, G. Glen Wickens offers a new reading of a work which is often ignored by critics and students of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Wickens explores the monistic viewpoint of The Dynasts through reference to 19th and early 20th philosophical writings which have never before been applied to Hardy's philosophy. Using insights derived from the critical theory of Mikhail Bakhtin - in particular his concept of carnival - Wickens also counters the usual view of The Dynasts as failed epic or tragedy, and instead situates the work as a novel within the serio-comical genres. In doing so, he brings out new, violent implications to Bakhtin's theory of laughter and carnival.

Thomas Hardy, Monism, and the Carnival Tradition is the first book-length study of Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts since 1977. It will be of interest to Hardy scholars, critics of Bakhtin, and to readers interested in monist philosophy or nineteenth century history.

"In this book, G. Glen Wickens offers a new reading of a work which is often ignored by critics and students of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Wickens explores the monistic viewpoint of The Dynasts through reference to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century philosophical writings which have never before been applied to Hardy's writing. Using insights derived from the critical theory of Mikhail Bakhtin - in particular his concept of carnival - Wickens also counters the usual view of The Dynasts as failed epic or tragedy, and instead situates the work as a novel within the serio-comical genres. In doing so, he brings out new, violent implications to Bakhtin's theory of laughter and carnival." "Thomas Hardy, Monism, and the Carnival Tradition is the first book-length study of Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts since 1977. It will be of interest to Hardy scholars, critics of Bakhtin, and readers interested in monist philosophy or nineteenth-century history."--Résumé de l'éditeur "In this book, G. Glen Wickens offers a new reading of a work which is often ignored by critics and students of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Wickens explores the monistic viewpoint of The Dynasts through reference to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century philosophical writings which have never before been applied to Hardy's writing. Using insights derived from the critical theory of Mikhail Bakhtin - in particular his concept of carnival - Wickens also counters the usual view of The Dynasts as failed epic or tragedy, and instead situates the work as a novel within the serio-comical genres. In doing so, he brings out new, violent implications to Bakhtin's theory of laughter and carnival." "Thomas Hardy, Monism, and the Carnival Tradition is the first book-length study of Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts since 1977. It will be of interest to Hardy scholars, critics of Bakhtin, and readers interested in monist philosophy or nineteenth-century history."--Jacket Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: RelocatingiTheDynasts 11 1. Hardy‘s Longest Novel and the Monistic Theory of the Universe 21 2. The Will’s Official Spirit 48 3. Unconscious or Superconscious? 78 4. Poetry and Prose 108 5. A Carnivalesque Picture of Carnival 141 6. Heroism, Speech Zones, and Genres 165 7. The Crowds of War 189 8. Chronotopes and the Death-Birth of a World 214 Conclusion: Hardy and Bakhtin 236 Notes 243 Works Cited 255 Index 267