CIRCUMSTANCE AND IDENTITY IN THOMAS HARDY’S SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE IN FIFTEEN GLIMPSES (1911)

Abstract

The paper examines the anthropological dimensions of the circumstance as such in Thomas Hardy’s Satires of Circumstance in Fifteen Glimpses (1911). Designed as a series of snapshots of reality, this cycle reveals the importance of paraphernalia and of objectified significations of man’s existence which, circumstantially at first glance, but profoundly on a deeper level, provide a glimpse into the inconsistencies of the characteristic for the Victorian and the early post-Victorian era positivist-empiricist grasp of life. Memory – a major component in socialization and in fostering individual conscience – has been compromised as an unnecessary diversion. The investigation of the relationship between circumstance and identity in this study rests on modern European ontophilosophy, existential ethics and hermeneutics.