The Fiddler of the Reels and Other Stories

The eleven short storiesin this collection range from those with the Wessex setting familiar from Hardy's novels, to aristocratic historical fantasies set in the 17th and 18th centuries, and tragic or ironic contemporary dramas. Enormously readable in their own right, thestories can also be seen as a rich testing ground for ideas and themes that receive more sustained treatment in Hardy's most innovative and controversial novels.

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General Editor's Preface
Chronology: Hardy's Life and Works
Map: Wessex Novels Edition
Bibliographical Note
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the History of the Texts

Short Stories

The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion
A Tragedy of Two Ambitions
The First Countess of Wessex
Barbara of the House of Grebe
For Conscience's Sake
The Son's Veto
On the Western Circuit
The Fiddler of the Reels
An Imaginative Woman
A Changed Man
Enter a Dragoon

Notes
Appendix I: History of the Short Story Collections
Appendix II: Hardy's Use of History in "The First Countess of Wessex"
Appendix III: A Note on the Illustrations
Glossary

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester—in his writing. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school. At sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect, and for many years, architecture was his profession; in his spare time, he pursued his first and last literary love, poetry. Finally convinced that he could earn his living as an author, he retired from architecture, married, and devoted himself to writing. An extremely productive novelist, Hardy published an important book every year or two. In 1896, disturbed by the public outcry over the unconventional subjects of his two greatest novels—Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure—he announced that he was giving up fiction and afterward produced only poetry. In later years, he received many honors. He was buried in Poet’s Corner, in Westminster Abbey. It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as his most memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, decisive delineation of character, and profound presentation of tragedy.