Dunster Village — Markton Village in Thomas Hardy's Wessex Novel A Laodicean (1880-81). Source of photograph: Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels, 1920, facing XIII, 188. Scanned image (2002) by Philip V. Allingham; text by Allingham and George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL.]
Commentary
The editors of the Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels have apparently based their comments upon De Stancy Castle and the nearby village in A Laodicean upon those in Thomas Hardy's Wessex (1913), in which Herman Lea describes the novel's principal setting in similar terms:
Markton, which in the novel is a village near Stancy Castle, was evidently drawn from Dunster Village, near which stands to-day [1912] the castle of the same name. Most of the action in the story takes place in and around Dunster. Near the centre of the exceptionally wide main street of the village stands the old Yarn Market, an octagonal wooden building with wide overhanging eaves and light little dormer-windows. An atmosphere of mediævalism pervades the town; and we can freely conjecture from its present appearance what it must have been like two or three centuries back in time.
Other Views of Castle de Stancy and the Village of Sleeping-Green
- Dunster Castle from the Village (2018): Castle De Stancy and Markton Village in Hardy'sA Laodicean
- Dunster Village and Castle in Hardy's A Laodicean
- View near the scene of the "Stancy Castle" in Hardy's A Laodicean
- Luttrell Arms Hotel, Dunster
Bibliography
Hardy, Thomas. A Laodicean, A Story of To-day. "Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels." Vol 13. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1920. This edition derives in part from previous editions and the photographs of 1912.
Hardy, Thomas. A Laodicean. A Story of Today. Illustrated by Henry Macbeth-Raeburn. Volume Eleven in the Complete Uniform Edition of the Wessex Novels. London: Osgood, McIlvaine; 1896.
Hardy, Thomas. A Laodicean, A Story of To-day. Anniversary Edition of the Wessex Novels. Vol. 13. New York and London: Harper & Bros., and Macmillan, 1920.
Last modified 19 April 2024