... of the city and the fiction of the country. In the city kind, experience and community would be essentially opaque; in the country kind, essentially transparent." (Williams 202) By contrast, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D"Urbervilles (1891) is set exclusively in rural locations. However, as with Dickens" novel, Tess is far from a nostalgic celebration of a rural idyll. The issues raised ... people were "tied" to the land. More importantly, it highlights the fallacy of a traditional, pastoral existence. This reaction against the traditional expectations of a rural novel goes someway to exp...

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• Approx Pages: 18
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate