Reading for Deep Insight

When you’ve read the Thomas Hardy novel, Far from the Madding Crowd, you may come to think of the phrase ‘harmless flirtation’ as a cruel oxymoron. A little spark can create a huge destructive fire. And this novel is all about how that can happen in human relations. It’s a great story with twists and turns you can never anticipate. There are lots of philosophical aspects of the book. You come to see the great power that beauty can have for good or ill. You get to know in new ways how the appearance of character and stability can be misleading.

I’m reading through Thomas Hardy’s novels now. The Return of the Native is a great story focused on ambition and happiness. Jude the Obscure is about class and how being an outsider can affect a person’s hopes and dreams. This book takes on relationships in a new way, and is about how valuing superficial attributes above deeper ones can lead down a path no one would want to travel.

The great novelists present and ponder great ideas. Their use of language may be creative and even sometimes astonishing. But it’s insight that drives the real value of their works. Thomas Hardy is one. We ignore his work to our detriment. I highly recommend any of the three I’ve read. Now, it’s on to two more of his stories.

For the books, click on the highlighted titles, or for this book, Far from the Madding Crowd, click HERE.