Really glad that I managed to get hold of a (second-hand) copy of this book, as it gets right to the heart of Hardy's tragic vision of the plight of modern human beings. It does this by eruditely investigating the self-destructiveness of some of Hardy's main fictional characters (Tess; Jude; Eustacia Vye; Michael Henchard; Giles Winterborne; and the interesting inclusion of Farmer Boldwood). Giordano's central theory seems to run something like this: that these main characters suffer from the Freudian death instinct (which Hardy spelt out in his fiction before Freud formulated his theory) and a will not to have been born which is borne from the start of the modernist age (in Victorian times) with its destruction of traditional Western belief systems and its replacement of them with little more than nihilism, ennui, and alienation.
The book opens with intriguing chapters on the origins and roots of Hardy's melancholic vision, and the views of both Freud and Durkheim on suicide which put forward the significance of social context/situation and offer a view of suicide as being a long drawn-out or built-up, self-destructive process rather than just a crazy, isolated incident (as previously assumed). The following chapters then dissect how some of the great characters from Hardy's main novels ('The Return of the Native'; 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'; 'Far from the Madding Crowd'; 'Jude the Obscure'; 'The Woodlanders'; and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles') suffer from such long-range self-destructive processes.
The section on Michael Henchard is quite similar to other critical reflections I've read about his divided personality; warring life versus death instincts etc. However, the section on Eustacia Vye's self-destructive process has been really eye-opening. Regarding the build-up of Eustacia's self-destructive (suicidal-type) psychology, Giordano points towards such things as her:
* Suffering from world-weariness, an intense sense of failing her potential, and a feeling that fate is firmly pitched against her
* Being in a bitter state of revolt against her surroundings and the people who inhabit it
* Feeling crushed through sensing that her self is up against an unjust, cruel world
* Plunging into a state of abyss-like despair where she feels that her existence is loveless, without reason, and comfortless
Of course, it's debatable whether Eustacia's drowning near the end of 'The Return of a Native' is a suicide or just a tragic accident. Despite this, Giordano remains convinced that it is a suicide borne from her making a final resolution to do such a thing, with this final, terminal decision being mixed in with confused motives and impulsive behaviour.
Have currently just started reading the section on Farmer Boldwood's self-destructive process (and almost suicide) in 'Far from the Madding Crowd' (the second Hardy novel I read after 'The Return of the Native' back in the early 1980s). Thus far, Giordano has offered fascinating insights into Boldwood's enigmatic, aristocratic reserve being accompanied by an inner vulnerability and uncontrollable emotions (a state often described as 'still rivers running deep'); his repressed emotions and self-denial making him susceptible to getting hurt easily; and his protective, stoic, routine life being disturbed by Bathsheba Everdine's thoughtless Valentine.
Thus, I'm roughly halfway through this wonderful book, and can't wait to read the second half. I'm just so so happy that I've managed to get hold of such an old-school book of literary criticism (from a kind of mixed traditional humanist-Freudian perspective) on Hardy's tragic vision of modern man's self-destructiveness (which, for me, is incredibly accurate and very much relevant to the present day).
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