Thomas Hardy, Novelist - With help from Will Carrico

Thomas Hardy considered himself to be more of a poet than a novelist; but Hardy gained his fame from his novels. Hardy destroyed all existing manuscripts of his first novel "The Poor Man and the Lady". He destroyed it due to advice from his mentor who said that his story was too politically contraversal, and might damage his ability to publish in the future. As Hardy gained success, he became somewhat of a celebrity. However, he was disgusted by the public reception of some of his greater novels, and so he gave up writing fiction.Hardy was very critical of the social constraints that were held during the 1900s and suggested that these constraints are the reasoning behind any unhappiness in our society. It is evident that he stood against these constraints in his novels.