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THOMAS HARDY BEGINS A NEW NOVEL


I went to YouTube this afternoon to see if there was any archive footage of Thomas Hardy reading his own poetry. He died only in 1928 so theoretically it was possible. I couldn't find any, but, beckoned here and there in the usual YouTube way, I dipped into a bit of Jeremy Irons reading Afterwards' in his actorish, labouredly sensitive way  -  a sonority that had worked perfectly on the wistful voice-overs that were an integral part of the original TV series of Brideshead Revisited  but didn't suit Hardy. Then I tried a bit of someone folksy reading a different short poem, and soon stopped. Then, unexpectedly, I reached this much more satisfying clip, hearing it for the first time in decades and laughing:

5 comments:

  1. Novel writing in Dorchester...

    Priceless. Thanks for broadening my literary knowledge.

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  2. '...oh dear what a disappointing start...' Haven't listened to this in 20 years, but still know it word for word. Genius.

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  3. Rambling Gambling Gordon

    Excellent indeed. I remember the album well – that and the spendidly-titled Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.

    Tempted after hearing this to ask of Michael Palin what Dennis Pennis once asked of Steve Martin: “When did you stop being funny?”

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  4. McHenry Boatride05 January, 2013

    A discussion here, http://tthaforumarchives.info/archives/?p=1031 , of your original question. It seems that your quest was always doomed to failure. And, just in case you are searching for them, apparently no recordings are known of DH Lawrence or AE Housman http://www.writersservices.com/mag/05/Poetry%20Archive.htm

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    Replies
    1. Many thanks, McHenry. Interesting stuff.

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