Post-World-War-II criticism on a number of Hardy's novels is collected in this volume by an eminent Hardy scholar. Five of these sixteen essays are written as overall treatments of Hardy's broad themes, and the rest focus on individual novels. A variety of approaches are features, including feminist, Marxist and impressionist ones. One of the two original essays looks at his wife Emma's role as chief transcriber and offers a set of criteria for distinguishing her handwriting. Several essays examine Hardy's critical reception: once thought to be crude and unsophisticated, Hardy is now cited by theorists to develop or prove theories on fiction development.