Hardy’s Geography: Wessex and the Regional Novel

Hardy’s Geography reconsiders a familiar element in Hardy’s novels: their use of place and, specifically, of Dorset. Hardy said his Wessex was a partly real, partly dream country . This study examines how reality and dream interact in his work. Should we look for a real place corresponding to Casterbridge? What is the relation between one person’s feelings for a place and society’s view of it. Ralph Pite concludes that Hardy addresses these issues through a distinctive regional awareness.