Aged Children and the Inevitability of Being Neglected: Hardy

Abstract

The last chapter of this book examines the representation of child neglect in the work of Thomas Hardy, focusing on his last novel, Jude the Obscure (1895). The decision to end with Hardy — and particularly the turn-of-the-century Hardy — has to do with his unique relation to the Romantic literary tradition that precedes him and infiltrates his writing. This relation is significant for his representation of childhood. Hardy’s poetical and fictional work, in technique as well as themes and ideology, marks a cultural transition. Critics tend to regard him as a bridging figure between nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, affiliated to his cultural past yet anticipating some of the anxieties and pessimism of the modern era.¹ In this respect he is considered a post-Romantic writer.