Thomas Hardy Society Study Day 2022 – Under the Greenwood Tree 

In Conjunction with the University of Exeter 

Saturday 23rd April at the Town Hall in the Corn Exchange Building, High East St, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1HF 

Begins 10.00am, registration opens at 9.15am. 

Illustration by R. Knight (1872) 

2022 will mark the 150th anniversary of Under the Greenwood Tree, perhaps Hardy’s most light-hearted novel, but one with hidden depths that become evident upon each re-reading. Its humorous depiction of life in an early Victorian rural community places it within Hardy’s ‘Novels of Character and Environment’. On the surface it concerns the trials and tribulations of the Mellstock Quire, based on the quire of which Hardy’s own father and grandfather were members, and the machinations of Fancy Day, the new village schoolmistress, and her trio of suitors. It is interwoven with folklore and folksong, and underneath can be seen a repudiation of the eugenicist theories espoused by contemporaries such as Grant Allen and Francis Galton. Biological and social harmony undergird the novel which best encapsulates Hardy’s notion of ‘loving kindness’.  

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: 

Professor Simon Gatrell (University of Georgia in Athens, U.S.): ‘Why Did Hardy Decide to Group Under the Greenwood Tree with the Novels of Character and Environment?’ 

Professor Angelique Richardson (University of Exeter): ‘Hardy’s Environments’. 

Dr Peter Robson (The Folklore Society, U.K.): ‘Under the Greenwood Tree and Beyond: The Mellstock Quire and Other Dorset Church Bands in Hardy’s Writings and in Life’. 

And a performance by The New Hardy Players of Songs from the Novel. 

Tickets are £30 or £15 for Students/Unwaged. This includes all refreshments, a buffet lunch, and a wine reception at the close of the day. It will be followed by dinner at a local resturant for those who wish to join us. 

For any enquiries please contact THS Secretary – Dr Tracy Hayes – info@hardysociety.org