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Pre-reading task

Look at the pictures and read some biographical information about a famous English
writer.
Thomas Hardy
Born 2 June 1840, near Dorchester in England
Died 11 January 1928, in Dorchester
Thomas Hardy was the son of a stonemason. After leaving the local school, he
became an architect and went to work in London. However, he missed the Dorset
countryside so much that he returned there in 1867 and began writing novels and
poetry. In 1872, Under the Greenwood Tree was published. This was the first of many
of his novels describing characters and scenes from country life. His first major
success was the novel Far from Madding Crowd in 1847. After this, his stories became
increasingly gloomy and tragic. His characters suffer terribly in a cruel and uncaring
world. In The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), the main character, Michael Henchard, is
eventually destroyed because, as a young man, he had sold his wife and child to
another man at a fair.
Other famous novels include Tess of the DUrbevilles and Jude, the Obscure. All
his stories are about ordinary people caught up in situations over which they have no
control. Many of them have been made into popular films.
Use the prompts to ask questions about Thomas Hardy
- When / where / born / die
- What / father / do
- Why / return / Dorset
- When / begin / novels
- What / his first novel / about
- When / first big success
- Stories / optimistic / pessimistic
- Who / Michael Henchard / what / he / famous for
- The Mayor of Castebridge / happy ending

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