Set in his fictional Wessex countryside in
southwest England, Far from the Madding Crowd was Thomas
Hardy's breakthrough work. Though it was first published
anonymously in 1874, the quick and tremendous success of
Far from the Madding Crowd persuaded Hardy to give up
his first profession, architecture, to concentrate on
writing fiction. The story of the ill-fated passions of
the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors
offers a spectacle of country life brimming with an
energy and charm not customarily associated with Hardy.
("When Farmer Oak smiled, " the novel begins, "the
corners of his mouth spread till they were within an
unimportant distance of his ears. . . .")----The text is
based on the authoritative Wessex Edition of 1912,
revised and corrected by Hardy himself.----This edition
is the companion volume to the Mobil Masterpiece Theatre
WGBH television presentation broadcast on PBS. It stars
Paloma Baeza as Bathsheba Everdene, Nathaniel Parker as
Gabriel Oak, Nigel Terry as Mr. Boldwood, and Jonathan
Firth as Frank Troy. Adapted by PhilomenaMcDonagh, Far
from the Madding Crowd is directed by Nick Renton. The
Modern Library has played a significant role in American
cultural life for the better part of a century. The
series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and
Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf
and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their
next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern
Library has been a staple of the American book trade,
providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of
important works of literature and thought. For the
Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House
redesignedthe series, restoring as its emblem the
running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925
and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as
inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The
Modern Library continues to provide the world's best
books, at the best prices.
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