Lowman (cultural studies, University College, Winchester, retired) offers a counterview to the widely accepted belief that Hardy was a well-informed, concerned and materially accurate
commentator on the social and economic conditions of rural labor in his novels and in The Dorsetshire Labourer, his contribution to the "rural question." Lowman highlights Hardy's
sentimentality, paternalism and conservatism in his discussions and portrayals of rural laborers. Lowman argues against the criticism that has established Hardy's reputation as a realist and
contends that Hardy's themes are pastoral myths and that his Wessex is a pastoral place of the imagination. Annotation 穢2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
