The Fiddler of the Reels

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"The Fiddler of the Reels"
Author Thomas Hardy
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Short story
Published in Scribner's Magazine
Publication type Periodical
Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons
Media type Print
Publication date April 1893

"The Fiddler of the Reels" is a short story by British writer Thomas Hardy. It was first published in Scribner's Magazine , volume 13 issue 4, April 1893. [1] It was included in Life's Little Ironies , a collection of Thomas Hardy's short stories first published in 1894.

Thomas Hardy English novelist and poet

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.

<i>Scribners Magazine</i>

Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly. Charles Scribner's Sons spent over $500,000 setting up the magazine, to compete with the already successful Harper's Monthly and The Atlantic Monthly. Scribner's Magazine was launched in 1887, and was the first of any magazine to introduce color illustrations. The magazine ceased publication in 1939.

<i>Lifes Little Ironies</i>

Life's Little Ironies is a collection of tales written by Thomas Hardy, originally published in 1894, and republished with a slightly different collection of stories, for the Uniform Edition in 1927/8.

Contents

In the story, set in South Wessex and London, the interaction of the lives of three people are related, at the time of the Great Exhibition in London, and of the coming of the railway to Wessex.

The Great Exhibition

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of World's Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century, and it was a much anticipated event. The Great Exhibition was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert, husband of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. It was attended by famous people of the time, including Charles Darwin, Samuel Colt, members of the Orléanist Royal Family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson and William Makepeace Thackeray. Music for the opening was under the direction of Sir George Thomas Smart and the continuous music from the exhibited organs for the Queen's procession was "under the superintendence of William Sterndale Bennett".

Summary

An old man, reminiscing with the narrator about times past, comments on the Great Exhibition of 1851. He says, "For South Wessex, the year formed in many ways an extraordinary chronological frontier.... a sudden bringing of ancient and modern into absolute contact...." The conversation moves to people they knew at that time, particularly of three local people; their story is described.

Wat Ollamoor, a veterinary surgeon lodging in the village of Mellstock, is known as a fiddle-player; he is called "Mop" becaused of his long hair. His appearance and fiddle-playing are attractive to young ladies, in particular to Car'line Aspent of the nearby village of Stickleford. Ned Hipcroft is courting Car'line. When his proposal of marriage is rejected, Ned, a mechanic, goes to London (in six days' walking; the railway line was being built but was not open) and works there, living in Lambeth. After four years in London he works on the glass-house of the Great Exhibition. He receives a letter from Car'line: she says she had been foolish to refuse him, and would gladly marry him. Ned, after a few days' consideration, replies: he is slightly reproachful and does not volunteer to return to Stickleford; agreeing to marry her, he suggests that she comes to London on the train, the railway line being now open.

Lambeth district in Central London, England

Lambeth is a district in Central London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area experienced some slight growth in the medieval period as part of the manor of Lambeth Palace. By the Victorian era the area had seen significant development as London expanded, with dense industrial, commercial and residential buildings located adjacent to one another. The changes brought by World War II altered much of the fabric of Lambeth. Subsequent development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has seen an increase in the number of high-rise buildings. The area is home to the International Maritime Organization.

The Crystal Palace former building originally in Hyde Park, London, 1854 relocated to Bromley, South London

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass structure originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. From 1 May until 11 October 1851 more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000-square-foot (92,000 m2) exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m). It was three times larger than the size of St Paul's Cathedral. The introduction of the sheet glass method into Britain by Chance Brothers in 1832 made possible the production of large sheets of cheap but strong glass, and its use in the Crystal Palace created a structure with the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights.

She arrives, with a girl aged about three; they are wet after the journey in the rain in an open carriage. Ned, initially displeased by the unexpected presence of Car'line's daughter, acquiesces to the situation. They get married, visiting the Exhibition after they come back from church; their married life is comfortable. After about three years Ned becomes short of work, and they decide to return home. At Casterbridge, where they leave the train, Ned makes inquiries about work in the town while Car'line and her daughter Carry walk to Stickleford. They stop for a rest at an inn; there is entertainment and, being recognized, Car'line is welcomed. There is dancing, to the music of Ollamoor's fiddle-playing. "The notes of that old violin... thrilled the London wife, these having still all the witchery that she had so well known of yore, and under which she had used to lose her power of independent will."

She takes part in a five-handed reel; she is eventually the only one left dancing, and finally faints. While she is being revived, Ollamoor disappears with the little girl. Ned, having arrived, is angered by Carry's disappearance, being more concerned about her than he is about his wife. Ollamoor and Carry are never seen again, despite Ned's return to London to look for them. It is supposed that Ollamoor and his daughter emigrated to America, "Mop, no doubt, finding the girl a highly desirable companion when he had trained her to keep him by her earnings as a dancer."

Reel (dance) form of dance and genre of accompanying music

The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. Of Scottish origin, reels are also an important part of the repertoire of the fiddle traditions of the British Isles and North America. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure.

Commentary

The writer and literary critic John Wain comments that Hardy had no particular regard for the short story as a literary form; that some of his stories have enough plot to have been a full-length novel. In "The Fiddler of the Reels", he suggests, Ned's return to London to look for Carry, or Ollamoor and his daughter's later adventures, could have been expanded if the writer had wished. Wain adds, "In such cases the decision to tell the story shortly is evidently an arbitrary choice on the author's part, rather than an artistic necessity inherent in the material chosen." [2]

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References

  1. ↑ Scribner's Magazine Volume 0013 Issue 4 (April, 1893) Cornell University Library, accessed 1 September 2015.
  2. ↑ John Wain (chosen and introduced by), Selected Stories of Thomas Hardy, Papermac 1966.
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