Thomas Hardy's Vision of Wessex Author:Simon Gatrell Wessex did not spring full-born from Hardy's imagination when he began to write. The first part of the book reveals in detail how Wessex became what it is, geographically, socially and culturally, beginning with his first poem in the 1860s and ending with Winter Words, his last collection of verse. The second (briefer) part is an account ... more »of the impact of Hardy's vision of Wessex on twentieth-century English culture, offering an explanation for Hardy's endurance as a popular novelist.« less