The Road to Norcombe Hill': Hardy's Musical Evolution --;'Silent Workings of the Invisible Hand': Hardy's Metaphysical Evolution --;The 'Spider's Web': Metaphysics into 'Music Drama' --;'The Plucked Harp String': Desire, Courtship Ritual and the Debate Concerning Speech Theory --;A Tale of 'Tragical Possibilities': Music and the Birth of Consciousness in The Return of the Native --;'A Tragedy Appropriate for its Time': Music and the Story of a 'Man of Character' --;'All Creation Groaning': A Deaf Ear to Music in Jude the Obscure.
This fascinating new study by Mark Asquith offers an original approach to Hardy's art as a novelist and entirely new readings of certain musical scenes in Hardy's works.