请输入您要查询的百科知识:

 

词条 A Mere Interlude
释义

  1. Plot summary

  2. Location

  3. References

  4. External links

{{Infobox short story |
| name = A Mere Interlude
|image =
| title_orig =
| translator =
| author = Thomas Hardy
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Short story
| published_in = The Bolton Weekly Journal
| publication_type = Periodical
| publisher =
| media_type = Print
| pub_date = 1885
| english_pub_date =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}

"A Mere Interlude" is a short story by Thomas Hardy. It was first published in The Bolton Weekly Journal in October 1885.[1] The story was reprinted in the collection A Changed Man and Other Tales (1913).

Plot summary

Baptista Trewthen is the daughter of a small farmer in St Maria's, one of the Isles of Lyonesse. She works as a schoolmistress in a village near Tor-upon-Sea. During the Easter holidays she accepts a marriage proposal by Mr David Heddegan, a rich man from Giant's Town who is over 30 years older than herself.

On a Saturday at the end of July, four days before her wedding, she misses the steamboat from Pen-zephyr to St Mary's, and the next boat is only on Tuesday. She meets Charles Stow, her former boyfriend. He persuades her to marry him. The ceremony takes place on Tuesday morning in Trufal. Back in Pen-zephyr Charles takes a plunge in the sea and drowns.

One day later Baptista marries Mr Heddegan as planned, without telling anyone about the brief interlude on the mainland. They spend their wedding night at an inn in Pen-zephyr, accidentally the same place where Charles' corpse is kept.

After less than a month a decayed glazier, who witnessed Baptista's first wedding, starts blackmailing her. When he keeps asking for more and more money she finally decides to tell the truth to her husband. He confesses he's a widower himself and father of four daughters. After this she gradually begins to love her stepdaughters and husband.

Location

Of all Hardy's stories this is the one with the westernmost location. The Isles of Lyonesse are really the Isles of Scilly. St Maria's is the largest island, St Mary's, and Giant's Town its capital Hugh Town. Pen-zephyr is Penzance in Cornwall. Tor-upon-Sea is Torquay.[2]

References

1. ^{{cite web|website=Online Literature|title=Thomas Hardy: "A Mere Interlude"|url=http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/3167/}}
2. ^{{cite web|website=Neal.Oxborrow.net |url=http://neal.oxborrow.net/Thomas_Hardy/Hardyplacenames.htm |title=Thomas Hardy: Placenames |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728055233/http://neal.oxborrow.net/Thomas_Hardy/Hardyplacenames.htm |archivedate=2012-07-28 |df= }}

External links

{{wikisource|A Mere Interlude}}
  • {{librivox book | title=A Mere Interlude | author=Thomas Hardy}}
{{Thomas Hardy}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Mere Interlude}}

2 : Works by Thomas Hardy|1885 short stories

随便看

 

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

 

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间:2024/11/16 2:00:51