Thomas Hardy

This book sheds much new light on Hardy's authorial practices in a previously neglected area of his literary output. It is the first comprehensive study of all of Hardy's thirty-seven collected short stories, a substantial number of which are among his most important works. One chapter is devoted to each of the individual stories, analysing the history of their composition and significant revision from manuscript through serial publication, galleys, revises and collected editions. Martin Ray's analysis gives a new prominence to Hardy's work in the short story and his professional commitment to it as a form, illuminating his creative practices and demonstrating how he responded to the demands of censorship and bowdlerization. It will be of particular interest to students of Victorian fiction, textual historians and bibliographers, as well as Thomas Hardy scholars.