Thomas Hardy has long been critically constructed as "poet of Wessex" and "novelist of character and environment". "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in particular being acclaimed a novelistic masterwork of the English national culture. This book offers to deconstruct the mythic "Hardy", in selecting 13 essays, from 1980 onwards, which represent "Tess" from very different contemporary critical perspectives. Feminist, cultural-materialist and post-structuralist approaches especially - often focused on the novel's enigmatic subtitle: "A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented by Thomas Hardy" - explores gender, class and language by way of its riven textuality. The essays are contributed by - M. Williams and R. Williams, G. Wotton, P. Boumelha, L. Claridge, P. Ingham, J. Marcus, P. Widdowson, C. Thompson, K. Silverman, J.J. Lecercle, J. Barrell, S. Gatrell and J. Goode.