Thomas Hardy

Do you think Thomas Hardy is over-researched?
.....(as i say l don't major in English, my questions will be a little unprofessional :o))
i am going to write my bachelor's thesis on his novels.But i am afraid i can't develop any new ideas as there're already a lot of discussion about them..
can you suggest some new perspective of writing this paper?
what's the most important book on Hardy study?
How do i make a start?

Thank you a lot.

:-) just one question then :what book do you think i must read?
Thank you all!

what are you going to write about Hardy for if your not an English Major? What field are you studying? Those are questions that you have to answer before you can jump into writing about him. If we knew what field you were in we could suggest something relevent to your subject.

Oh Thank you IWilKikU.
Sorry i didn't clarify my purpose of writing this paper.I have My minor in Literature.(Well, it's still not like your English Department )(and my major is chemistry). I am a senior student and have 4 months to work on the paper.

I consult materials mainly in my language.. but I found most of them are concentrating on Hardy's Tragedy's theme and the analyses of characters like Tess, Jude,Eustacia etc. And they seem more or less the same...

I don't need to write a long and complicated paper.(7000---10000 is ok)I just want to find a new perspective to write something less repeated and I'd like it to be mainly based on these novels ,say "the Return of the Native","Far from the madding crowd","Mayor of Casterbridge""Tess ..","Jude the obscure".I may also narrow my horizon.

then what book will you guys recommend me to read?
Thanks a lot!

uh... I dont actually know anything about Hardy, I was just helping ask a more pointed question.

:-) It's very kind of you
anyway, i will try to find some useful material in my school lib...

School library, 1. Literature Network, 0. :(

Compare, Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles, with Boccaccio's The Decameron.

:-) IWilKikU....But the school library won't open until next Monday ..hehe

and sloegin, why do you think it's a good idea to compare
Tess of the D'Ubervilles with Decameron? The latter is composed of 100 storied..maybe you mean one of those stories?

I find Hardy to be incredibly tedious. I think I read far from the madding croud and Tess of the d'urbervilles sometime when I was in middle school. Maybe I was too young. Regardless, good luck, though I wonder why you chose Hardy.

As far as useful suggestions--when I have to write a paper, I read the book first, without critisms or commentaries on it, and find out what I think. Then I look at the politics and culture the author was imbued in when he wrote it. Usually I find some connections here that make a good paper. If I don't find anything here, then I try and find out who the authors influences are. For example Chaucer travelled in Italy before he wrote Canterbury tales, and read Itallion literaterature. Canterbury tales and the Decameron are both frame narratives--voila! A topic for a paper.

Well, good luck, papers can be a pain, I'm sorry I don't have any specific ideas!

Thank you for your information,piquant :)
I used to do my paper ljust like you said.I think that's the only right way of doing Literary studies.
I have read some of Hardy's novels.The reason why i choose him also lies in the research resources and my schedule here. I thought of Virgina woolf,Joyce...but due to my time and resources limitation..i finall choose Hardy.

If you notice my location,you will know my problem here.Still i found only three books about him in school lib this morning..Anyway,i will use my head more :)

How about the representation of nature in The Return of the Native...or the influence of the ancient classics on Hardy?

or the conflict between realism and romanticism in books like Jude the Obscure and The Return of the Native?

I was thinking of comparing the love triangles and the smut.

Thank you for your ideas! David J and sloegin :)
I was thinking of the influence of the Nature and the Social circumstance on the characters...
or the Downfall of these male characters from Oak to Jude...
Which do you think is better, a generalization on his six novels (Far from Madding Crowd -----Jude the Obscure) or just focus on one book?(l was thinking of Jude)
>>the conflict between realism and romanticism in books like Jude the Obscure>>David can you give me some more details?

the love triangles and the smut>>
Good idea too!
it's typical of Hardy's novels...but i was wondering, what can i draw from this ?
what more does the love triangles stand for besides the story?
I'll think about it.