Scrolling Along: Spatial Design as Narrative in Thomas Hardy

Abstract: Thomas Hardy uses the painterly triptych of foreground, middle distance, and background in his narrative structures. These developments can be read as spatial scrolls. Their design recalls the narrative chronotope described by Mikhail Bakhtin. While the scroll is simple in form, Hardy deploys it complexly to delineate location, perspective, value, and identity. Many illustrations from his poetry such as "Wessex Heights," "The Pedigree," and "Poems of 1912–13" are examined. A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), Return of the Native (1873), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1895) and other novels use the scroll. The scroll design mediates the narrative interplay of optics and options in Hardy's work. The construct of Wessex is Hardy's most elaborate narrative and his most elaborate scroll.