Had a nice Hardy-related experience at the Dorchester community church above.
Was passing this place with a big rucksack on my back and a kind old lady invited me inside for a drink. So we got talking and it happened that the old lady's mother had known and really liked Thomas Hardy.
Moreover, her mother had believed that Hardy had never fully lost his Christian faith, despite his well-known agnosticism; criticism of established Christianity (e.g. in 'Jude the Obscure'); and the mystical-type elevation of paganism in some of his novels, especially 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.
Thus, what the old lady said kind of fitted in with my own view of Hardy having been a strong agnostic in this thinking, while retaining some kind of fond, semi-conscious or subconscious attachment to Anglicanism (especially in a rural setting as at Stinsford or Puddletown parish churches).
No comments:
Post a Comment