On The Country Color And Folklore Of Thomas Hardy's Novels

Thomas Hardy is famous as a local writer. The traditional culture of hometown, special experience of life and deep country consciousness make his novels with strong country color.On one hand, the environment and the character in his novels are distinctly characteristic of country color under the united background Wessex, whose prototype is Hardy's hometown Dorset. On the other hand, being rich in folklore is also an important aspect of his novels' country color.The present paper is composed of four parts. The first part is preface which discusses why I select this topic. The second part deals with country color of Hardy's novels from three perspectives: background, environment and character. The third chapter deals with folklore in Hardy's novels from four perspectives: festivals and activities, rites and customs, fairy tales and popular legends, folk songs and popular sayings. The last part comments on the country color and folklore of Thomas Hardy's novels.