Wessex Tales is a collection of stories written somewhere in the 1890s (Oh yeah Ok !!! I am a dinosaur...happy ??) by Thomas Hardy. I am very bad normally, at exaggerating things, so I won’t make any attempt to do so.
Simply put, I’ve NEVER read a better collection of short stories in my life. Yes, that thought of mine would probably change if I managed to held hold of a collection of short stories of O Henry, who, btw, is my favourite short story writer. I bet ever single one of you who has even a rag of an interest in short stories has read both these people. I do have a lot of old copies of short story collections, mostly by these late 19th/early 20th century authors. And I still have them safely tucked up in my cupboard, even though a few of ’em are moth-eaten like hell !!
Thomas Hardy belongs to this outstanding range of of writers, which included greats like Charles Dickens, Chesterton, W Somerset Maugham, Kipling, H G Wells, D H Lawrence, Robert Graves etc. In fact, I would say that if it hadn’t been for O Henry, Hardy would’ve definitely been my most favorite writer of short stories.
O Henry and Hardy have distinctly contrasting styles of writing. Most O Henry stories follow a simple, lucid path. The smooth narrative through most of the story is totally contrasted by the extremely suprising twist at the end of the story, that is so much a characteristic of the man. That is the reason I so love reading O Henry...you never know whats coming...never. I loved a story called ’The Cop And The Anthem’ that we had in our college text. But, my earliest exposure to Henry was in school when I read ’After 20 Years’ (I am extremely sorry if the name of the story is a little diferent, I don’t remember the name so well...but I do remember the story like my own name !!).
Thomas Hardy, on the other hand, follows a totally different path. His stories are full of twists and turns, all through the length of it. Every few moments, the story changes dramatically. The way in which these twists are controlled, never ceases to amaze me. The story never falls into the insipid. Its like One hell of a roller coaster ride. The end is more often than not, utterly unexpected...just like Henry......
Wessex Tales is a collection of exactly these stories. Its got a whole range of stories that have a variety of moods. More often than not, the same story takes you through the whole range of emotions, from happiness, to excitement, to sorrow, to victory, to defeat, to humiliation, to jubiliation, to mystery, to surprise, to love and to hate. Hell, theres even a story that borders on the occult. But here, most stories are painted in a rather dark atmosphere... so diappointment is the main theme I guess here. But that doesn’t mean that reading it would make you feel blue. The stories are about disappointment, but not disappointing themselves. They are more - inspiring, you could say. They teach you a lot of things. I bet each and every one of these short stories could be made out into a movie..and it would definitely work like hell. My personal favourite in this collection is one called ’A Melancholy Hussar From The German Legion’. Its a romantic story. But not your everyday normal mushy mushy kind. Its a mature love story between a depressed, innocent girl and a young soldier bound by his duties.
It is, kind of, a tragic tale. But al stories out here make for extremely interesting and entertaining reading. Look out for a few of these : An Imaginative Woman, The Three Strangers, The Withered arm, Fellow-Townsmen, Interlopers at the Knap, The Distracted Preacher, and last, but not the least, A Melanchloly Hussar From The German Legion. I could’ve taken down and described each and every one of the stories in detail, like most of my good friends on MS would do. But really, I do not have the patience (and probably the brains !!) to do so. I rather, write my reviews, im-promp-tu...as it comes to my mind. Probably, thats the reason why most of my reviews seem a little unstructured. I guess you’d have to bear with me for that !! I hope someday, I too can write a good well-structured, formatted, point-by-point review, like my friends, Reeper, Suyog, Karan A, mleahk etc. In the meantime, you enjoy MY style (if you could call it that) !! And as always...write more comments. [;-)] P.S. : Hey !! No one seems to be interested in designing a costume for me [:-(]. Please remember the prize I’m gonna give away if you do make one !!