Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes

Anna Spydell (Sewanee, University of the South)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1873

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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A Pair of Blue Eyes

is the fourth published novel of English writer and poet Thomas Hardy, which first appeared in serial form in

Tinsley’s Magazine

under the title “A winning tongue had he”. It was published in eleven instalments, beginning in August 1872 and ending in March 1873. Despite having promised William Tinsley the serial and three-volume publishing rights in July 1872, Hardy did not have much more than an outline of the plot ready, and it is likely that this is what led him to base the story upon his experiences of courting his wife, Emma Gifford Hardy, in 1870. Born into a socially superior family than that of the working class Hardys, Emma was living with her sister and her brother-in-law, a vicar, in Cornwall when Thomas Hardy arrived as a young architect’s…

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2243 words

Citation: Spydell, Anna. "A Pair of Blue Eyes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 May 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7072, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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