It’s officially that exciting time here on Close Reads when we embark on a new book! Over the next two months we will be digging into Thomas Hardy’s classic novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, aided of course by our friend Karen Swallow Prior. This is Karen’s third time on the show (she previously joined us for conversations about Sense and Sensibility and Jane Eyre) and we’re so excited to have her back on. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for this book is unparalleled and she’s such a delightful conversationalist and teacher that she can’t help but make books like this come alive. We’re honored she’s willing to join us again (so be sure to give her the customary Close Reads welcome over on the Facebook page).
So with all that in mind, here’s the reading schedule for the next ten weeks. Please note that while you can obviously use any edition of the book you wish, we will be using the brand new edition Karen edited for B&H. Page numbers listed below reference Karen’s new edition and dates reference when each episode will get published, not when they will be recorded.
April 22 - Phase 1, chapters 1-5 (pages 33-94)
April 29 - Phase 1, chapters 6-11 (pages 94-145)
May 6 - Phase 2 (pages 149-189)
May 13 - Phase 3 (pages 193-271)
May 20 - Phase 4, chapters 25-30 (pages 273-331)
May 27 - Phase 4, chapters 31-34 (page 331-384)
June 3 - Phase 5 (pages 387-445)
June 10 - Phase 6 (page 507-600)
June 17 - Phase 7 (pages 602-650)
June 24 - Q&A episode
Learn More About “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”
Tess is a somewhat controversial book with a fraught history. It was initially published in a censored and serialized form in The Graphic (a newspaper that also published George Eliot and Anthony Trollope, among others) in 1891, before eventually being published as a book in a few different editions over the next few years. Since then, it’s amassed both a loyal cult following as well as increased adulation in academic circles, and it is now considered a nineteenth century classic. We’ll dig into what makes it both classic and controversial on the show, but if you would like to whet your whistle a bit the following links might prove useful.
First, why not check our Karen Swallow Prior’s “Behind the Book” interview with SEBTS.
Meanwhile, novelist Janet Beard wrote about the “timelessness” of Tess for LitHub.
One of the most surprising pieces you will read about Hardy’s novel is by Helen Cooper, a mystery writer who claims that Tess is a “masterclass in suspense.”
Victorian Web has a series of illustrations that ran with the 1891 serialized version of Tess that is absolutely worth browsing.
That’s all for now. Happy reading!