Read Thomas Hardy's 'A Laodicean' recently and found it a more pleasant, easy-going read than what are commonly referred to as his two other 'wooden spoons', 'The Hand of Ethelberta' and 'Desperate Remedies'.
I also read the Cambridge version of the book above which had no academic-type, 'Lit-Crit' Introduction and no explanation of things in the text at the back of the book. Thus, I read 'A Laodicean' with no pre-determined ideas gained from any interesting, preceding 'Lit-Crit' section so I was technically freer to make my own interpration about the meaning(s) of the book. However, I have to admit that I missed not having some 'Lit-Crit' Introduction section to sink into before reading a Hardy novel.
Before reading the novel, I looked up what 'Laodicean' means, and it more or less refers to someone who is lukewarm or lacks commitment towards things. For me, it is this idea that seems to thematically dominate the novel, especially concerning Paula Power's and some of the other characters' states of mind, as they seem trapped between accepting the modern world for what it is, full of uncertainty without the security of absolute knowledge and still seeking a sense of lost Romantic medievalism which is no longer attainable, although it continually surrounds Paula and her friends in the castle she inherits from her recently deceased father.
Really enjoyed the opening chapters of 'A Laodicean' with them introducing the reader to the aesthete-type architect, George Somerset', who chances upon the failed baptism of the mysterious Paula Power in a small, rural, Baptist chapel. At one point, there's an erudite debate about the rights and wrongs of child baptism between George Somerset and the Baptist minister, Mr. Woodwell, with the former quoting early Apostolic Church fathers to support infant baptism, and the latter scrupulously quoting the New Testament to denounce it, with Paul Power witnessing all of the erudite spectacle. Having read some time ago that the young Hardy seriously considered converting from Anglicanism to the Baptist religion, this seems to show that 'A Laodicean' may be a strongly autobiographical novel.
Paula Power continually dreams of gaining a sense of medieval nobility to accompany the powerful position she has gained in society, but this is simply unattainable as the world is quickly changing (this change being symbolised by the telegraph machine in the castle and Paula's father's railway lines), getting faster with people becoming far less certain about how they can describe and rationalise/justify their own position in it. This is why a Laodicean (lukewarm/non-committed) state or human condition seems to envelope everything and everybody in this novel. In a sense, how can you strongly be anything if you cannot be certain about many things (or even anything).
And alongside Paula's torn Romantic-modern realist state of mind and George Somerset's emotional pursuit of Paula, what about the other characters?
Well, Charlotte De Stancy seems to be the long suffering, self-sacrifice victim of the novel. Being both ferociously devoted to Paula and in love with Somerset, poor Charlotte is doomed to failure and an abject life, and, thus, she ends up joining a kind of Protestant sisterhood. Both her and her brother (Captain De Stancy) seem to be haunted by a sense of abject failure which accompanies the loss of their castle and aristocratic status by their father. Like in some other Hardy novels, particularly 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', lines of aristocracy can be seen being reduced to relics and dust in the wake of the onset of the modern world and its technological progress.
The most shocking character in the novel is undoubtedly William Dare, Captain De Stancy's illegitimate son borne from campaigns abroad. Dare is like a small, impish demon periodically turning up on the scene to try to lead Captain De Stancy towards gaining Paula's hand in marriage (to regain the aristocratic status of the De Stancys) and correspondingly create schemes of deception to show Somerset in a false, negative light. Think I've seen it suggested somewhere that Dare is symbolic of parts of the British Commonwealth coming back to haunt Britain, but I didn't read too much into this.
As a side issue, what I really liked about 'A Laodicean' was Hardy's description of the sharp contrast between lit candles and general darkness inside Catholic churches and cathedrals on the continent. Here, Hardy seems to focus on the profound combination of silence and mystery that can arise through this juxtaposition of darkness and light in old-fashioned Catholic churches. In this sense, it was interesting to see the non-Catholic/Anglican conditioned/agnostic-minded Hardy appreciate the quiet, contemplative state of mind that can be attained inside silent Catholic churches (during my life, I've heard many believers, half-believers and non-believers comment on this kind of thing).
And finally, there is the enigmatic ending with Paula telling her husband, George Somerset, that she wishes her castle hadn't burnt down and that he was a De Stancy. For me, this just ends where we started off, the individual psyche feeling a pragmatic need to embrace modernity, but yearning for the beauty of Romantic medievalism which is sadly becoming a relic, crumbling to dust, essentially lost but still yearned after.
