I first (was forced to) read “Return of the Native,” a Victorian novel set in 1850 rural England in high school. Certainly not because I could handle Jan Austen-ish stuff without nausea. Time passed, my tolerance changed. You can Google the plot summary (and spoil your reading experience) elsewhere along with longer reviews. Two things remained in my mind all these years: the opening and the language skills. So I re-read it.
Thomas Hardy begins with a description of the wild heath of southern England in November. So vivid was his prose, I recall the feeling it evokes virtually every gray November sunset since. This ability to depict the physical world is matched by his descriptions of his characters’ thoughts. Readers can feel they understand the time and place, as well as the feelings of the people.
Like many writers of that time, when conversation had to substitute for our ubiquitous media, Hardy deploys an enormous vocabulary in long, but coherent sentences. Communication then was by word alone, and mastery of those skills was crucial.
The form and content of the book instills better than any movie or PBS special the nature of life at that time, and how ours contrasts sharply and resembles eerily. The gains we enjoy and the costs we have incurred in this communication evolution are sobering. But then, this book is not full of laughs anyway. Your library likely has it but beware the dust. (It’s free on Kindle.)
