The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy · first published 1800
80% recommend20% neutral
<p>Like many of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/thomas-hardy">Hardy’s</a> novels, <i>The Mayor of Casterbridge</i> is set in the fictional county of Wessex in the mid 1800s. It begins with Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser, drunk on rum, auctioning off his wife and baby daughter at a village fair. The next day, overcome with remorse, Henchard resolves to turn his life around. When we meet Henchard eighteen years later, temperance and hard work have made him wealthy and respectable. However, he cannot escape his past. His secret guilt, his pride, and his impulsive temper all serv
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The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, my favorite book of all time. I loved the characters, how they evolved and their relations with them. A weak character will through years become successful while another character they…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…hangs over them forever. ... This plot trick is said to be unbecoming of a serious artist. Hmm, yet Thomas Hardy is (correctly IMHO) is considered a great artist worthy of having novels like The Mayor of Casterbridge included in the canon.
on “The Myth of the Second Chance” ↗The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character by Thomas Hardy (1886) https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/thomas-hardy/the-mayor-of-... I notice from that link it was on a top 100 Great British novels list.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite classic books?” ↗This also makes you think his book would be depressing to read but I've read the Mayor of Casterbridge and I would call it joyful. Odd.
on “All possible plots by major authors (2020)” ↗…or whoever (and I suspect that they don't have the best ideas all the time), having them available to me was helpful. To me, even if I didn't totally get the context of "Pride and Prejudice" or "The Mayor of Casterbridge" or "Ulysses" or "Pamela" or "Borderlands/La Frontera" or "The Sun Also Rises": a) knowing that these were things people do deeply explore was helpful and b) the little bits that did resonate have stayed…
on “I like 'em thick OR: an apology to my English teachers” ↗