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Except for reading "Jude the Obscure" when I was fully as naive as Jude
himself, I had never paid much attention to Thomas Hardy's fiction. But,
having become rather enamored of his poetry at this late date, I decided
that I ought, at some point, at least to sample the old man's prose,
preferably via one of his short story collections. When a friend found
an old hardback edition of "Life's Little Ironies: A Set of Tales , with
Some Colloquial Sketches Entitled 'A Few Crusted Characters'" on a used
bookstore shelf recently, I accepted the challenge, and I'm glad I did.
 I am not going to claim, nor do I think anyone else should, that
the collection (originally issued in 1894 and reconstituted in 1912 for a
collected edition of Hardy's works) is a masterpiece. As the title
indicates, the stories pivot on irony (as do many of the poems in Hardy's
fourth collection of verse "Satires of Circumstance: Lyrics and Reveries
with Miscellaneous Pieces" [London, 1914].) For that reason it would be
easy to argue that the tales exist more for formal (or formulaic)
considerations than for considerations of character, and it is certainly
appropriate to note the resemblance in this matter to the stories of Saki
and O. Henry (or even to the almost mathematical precision of certain
very well-constructed mystery stories.) But Hardy transcends formula
because, balanced against the seemingly inevitable "tragedy" of each
protagonist, is Hardy's careful depiction of those protagonists, which
forces the reader to understand that character, not "fate," creates the
ironic circumstances upon which Hardy's people stumble.
Readers might also quibble that "Life's Little Ironies" contains
entirely too much conception out of wedlock as a plot device. And yet,
in the centuries before reliable birth control, how many "tragic" events
can have been as common? Furthermore, if a writer is as concerned as
Hardy is with the delineation of character (and the lack of it), how many
other occurrences hold such potential for revealing the true face beneath
the civilized veneer?
It is also worth emphasizing Hardy's own position as regards
these tales, and the events they depict, revealed in the title's
adjective--"little." Though Hardy's men and women, caught up in the
consequences of their actions, may see their lives as being "over," both
Hardy and the reader know that life continues, despite failed love,
disappointing marriage or bastardy. And it is Hardy's slyly mocking
tone, just hinted at in the title, that best prepares readers for the
book's triumph, the linked series of "sketches" entitled, as a group, "A
Few Crusted Characters" which close the volume.
Here the allegedly dour Hardy is as playful and entertaining as
Twain as he relates the stories told by the passengers in a carriage to
the "stranger" in their midst. The stranger, actually, is a returning
former resident of the area who has been away for decades. His reference
to the last Longpuddle face he saw before moving provokes the first
story, which leads into the second, and so forth. Hardy's touch is
unfailingly light, no matter how grim the events may seem on the surface,
and the denouement, in which we learn that the stranger-- who was
considering moving back to Longpuddle-- soon left never to be seen again
is exactly the right ending.
Throughout his long life, Hardy persistently claimed that he was
misunderstood and misrepresented by his critics. "Life's Little Ironies"
and especially the deft and comic "A Few Crusted Characters" tempt me to
believe him.
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