Women and Sexuality in the Novels of Thomas Hardy

` the most profound and comprehensive discussion I know of the representation of women and of female sexuality in the novels of Thomas Hardy ... It is a major revisionary study of Hardy's study of female sexuality and of the political and social implications of that treatment.' - J. Hillis Miller, University of California`She is perceptive, not to say exhaustive, in her detection of sexual imagery and metaphor ... her main case is irrefutable and ... shrewdly underlines Hardy's achievement in questioning the traditional portrayal of female sexuality.' - Times Literary Supplement`Dr Morgan has many illuminating insights, especially in her shrewd analysis of Sue's and Jude's weaknesses.' - Contemporary Review`Dr Morgan's book, and particularly her analysis of human relationships in Jude the Obscure ... bear witness to Hardy's importance as a novelist who significantly helped to change the attitudes of later generations.' - Western Gazette`Just as Hardy's novels called for a reassessment and revision of woman's social condition, so the author of this study call for reappraisal of criticism of the novels.' - EMW, Studies on Women Abstracts`... clear and accessible.' - Merryn Williams, Notes and Queries

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, ABBREVIATIONS, INTRODUCTION, 1. THE HERESY OF PASSION: A Pair of Blue Eyes, 2. SUBVERTING ORTHODOXY: Far From the Madding Crowd, 3. ELEMENTAL FORCES: The Return of the Native, 4. PASSIVE VICTIM? Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 5. PASSION DENIED: Jude the Obscure, 6. CONCLUSION, APPENDIX, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX