Far from the Madding Crowd Far from the Madding Crowd has its genesis in a letter Hardy wrote to Leslie Stephen, the new editor of the Cornhill Magazine, in November 1872. Stephen had inquired about the possibility of a serialized story for the magazine, and Hardy replied that he had in mind "a pastoral tale which I thought of calling "Far from the Madding Crowd," in which the chief characters would be a woman-farmer, a shepherd, and a sergeant in the Dragoon Guards." Hardy began the novel during the ... his not doing" (Life and Work, 105). His next novel, The Hand of Ethelberta, seems spatia...

• Word Count: 3292
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School