Life's Little Ironies

IntroductionandNotesbyDrClaireSeymour,UniversityofKentatCanterburyTheproverbialphraselifeslittleironieswascoinedbyHardyforhisthirdvolumeofshortstories.Thesetalesandsketchespossessallthepowerofhisnovels:thewealthofdescription,therealisticportrayalofthequaintloreofWessex,theChaucerianhumourandcharacterisation,theshrewdandcriticalpsychology,thepoignantestimateofhumannatureandthebroodingsenseofwonderattheessentialmysteryoflife.ThetaleswhichmakeupLife'sLittleIroniestenderlyre-createarapidlyvanishingruralworldandscrutinisetherepressionsoffin-de-sieclebourgeoislife.TheysharethemanyconcernsofHardy'slastgreatnovels,suchasthefailureofmodernmarriageandtheinsidiouseffectsofsocialambitiononthefamilyandcommunitylife.Rangingwidelyinlengthandcomplexity,theyareunifiedbyHardy'squintessentialirony,whichembracesboththefarcicalandthetragicaspectsofhumanexistence.