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Title: A Laodicean: Or the Castle of the De Stancys (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy, John Schad ISBN: 0-14-043506-9 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Ouch!
Comment: Paula Power has inherited Stancy Castle from her father, who made his money from railway development. She is living in this Gothic pile with Charlotte De Stancy, her close friend (hint, hint) whose family's ancestral seat the castle was before the nouveaux riches moved in. Stancy Castle is to be renovated. The architect George Somerset, who takes a shine to Paula, competes for the contract. The De Stancy family see this competition and the chance to marry William De Stancy to Paula as a means of regaining their ancestral rights.
I couldn't wait to finish this novel, which is the worst of his I've read since "The Hand of Ethelberta". It's a minor potboiler of a romance, filled with cut-out characters and ludicrous melodrama. There's no examination of the thought processes of the characters - the sorry plot just plods along like an aged emaciated donkey. Even when Hardy tries to inject some life into the novel by switching the setting to the Continent, it only makes things worse by making the plot convolutions even more far-fetched.
It just goes to show that even great novelists can have an off day. Thankfully, Hardy wrote far better novels than this earlier in his career and went on to write better ones later. Thank goodness for that.
G Rodgers
Rating: 4
Summary: Not Very Subtle, But Often Surprising
Comment: Thomas Hardy's 1881 novel, "A Laodicean" is often overlooked among his more noted works, like "Tess" or "Jude". While "A Laodicean" is not the most subtly developing Victorian novel in terms of romance, it is sophisticated and worth reading in other aspects. Subtitled "A Story of To-day," Hardy's novel effectively explores the relationship between the coming age of technology and the death of the aristocracy in pre-20th century Britain.
The novel begins with George Somerset, a flighty and intelligent young man who has tinkered with several pursuits, but is finally settling into architecture. Wandering about the vicinity of Markton village, he comes upon a rustic baptism. Paula Power, a young heiress whose late father was a railroad tycoon, refuses to be baptized, raising Pastor Woodwell's charge against her that she is a "Laodicean," a lukewarm believer. George is engaged to work on the restoration of Paula's new residence, Castle De Stancy. Somerset's fascination with Power is born and the action of the novel begins in earnest.
Some of the themes of interest include technological advance - the telegraph's intrusion into the most ancient spaces - the gothic castle and photography. With the image of the crumbling gothic Castle De Stancy, Hardy questions the relevance of hereditary aristocracy and religious fervor to the cosmopolitan modern age. With Paula, Hardy's lifelong interest in the independent heroine is complicated and subtly nuanced. With the fascinating Mr. Dare, Hardy plays with his gothic and colonial subtexts, prefiguring Bram Stoker's late 1890's "Dracula."
"A Laodicean" is worth reading because it is itself lukewarm - unsure whether progress is always positive and uncomfortable with the flippancy of both the aristocracy and new wealth. It is a book whose very instabilities and insecurities make it engaging.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not one of Hardy's best, but an interesting read.
Comment: One of the interesting aspects of writing a thesis on imagery in Hardy's novels was getting to read some of the lesser known of his writings, this one included. While there is good reason for many of them to be little considered, "A Laodicean" is still worth a read if you are a Hardy fan. It was largely written while he was bedridden after a mystery illness in 1880-1881. In the novel. Hardy tries to capture the changing world in the England of his day. Aristocracy and family names had dominated, but new wealth in the form of industry and technology were beginning to assert themselves. Thus, his heroine Paula Powers can't make up her mind which of her two suitors, an aristocrat and an architect, she really wants. Even when she makes her choice, there is still doubt in her mind right to the end of the novel, hence the description of her as a `Laodicean', (from Revelation 3:14-22) someone who is neither hot nor cold. Many of the images and themes which we associate with Hardy's better known novels are here, but it never quite hits the heights. Still, it is interesting to see this take on the changes on England's society near the end of the 19th century.
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Title: The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters by Thomas Hardy ISBN: 0460876457 Publisher: Everymans Library Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Two on a Tower (Everyman's Library (Paper)) by Thomas Hardy ISBN: 0460877844 Publisher: Everymans Library Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Desperate Remedies: A Novel (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy, Mary Rimmer ISBN: 0140435239 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved & the Well-Beloved (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy, Patricia Ingham ISBN: 0140435190 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: A Pair of Blue Eyes (Oxford World's Classics) by Thomas Hardy, Alan Manford ISBN: 0192834827 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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