Introduction & Overview of Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Far from the Madding Crowd Introduction

In December 1872, having already published several moderately successful novels, Thomas Hardy was approached by the editor of Cornhill, a respected literary magazine, to write a story to run in serial form. The resulting book, Far from the Madding Crowd, was a popular attraction for the magazine and Hardy's first critical success. It was first published in serial form in Cornhill between January and December 1874, and then published the same year in London in book form. Hardy had already published several novels, but this was the first of the five novels that would assure his place in the annals of literature.

The plot of Far from the Madding Crowd concerns a young woman, Bathsheba Everdene, and the three men in her life: one is a poor sheep farmer who loses his flock in a tragedy and ends up working as an employee on Bathsheba's farm; one is...
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