Hardy Chronology

Here is a full companion to Hardy's life and works, listing year by year the details of his secretive biography and remarkable literary output. Background information is provided, especially for those historical events in which Hardy took most interest, but the chief aim is to provide the reader with an abbreviated biography and reference guide. Wherever possible, the story of the author's life has been told in his own words; but especially in the earlier years, where Hardy preserved the greatest secrecy, quotation has also been included from the standard biographies, and close use has been made of Hardy's notebooks and the biographically revealing marginalia in his personal library.