Literary enthusiasts have always been fascinated with the world behind Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.  Hardy’s sweeping, romantic descriptions of the landscape of Dorset instinctually appeal to his readers and give them an inexplicable nostalgia for the pastoral. The first  “official” guide to Wessex was published in 1913, fully 15 years before Hardy’s death! This anomaly demonstrates just how attracted the Edwardians were to mythological Wessex. Indeed, they must have felt a sort of longing for the simpler, pastoral world that Hardy’s Wessex represented—a world that was gradually becoming obsolete due to the industrialization and urbanization of the period.

It may seem strange that the Edwardians were so drawn to Hardy’s Wessex in the first place; after all, the region was mostly a fictional construction with purely mythological roots.  However, this did not stop Hardy enthusiasts from attempting to discover the “Real Life Wessex” in the author’s Dorset.  As the critic B.P. Birch notes:

Though he asked his readers not to believe in the real existence of the imaginary Victorian Wessex of which he wrote, so popular did his writings become and so numerous the readers who attempted to trace out his literary topography, that in the preface to later editions of his Wessex Tales he gave explanations of his geographical settings and the ways in which he had transliterated real places and place-names into fictional forms.  He even provided a map of Wessex to aid the reader in locating these places. (Birch 349)

The Edwardian reader’s attraction to fictional Wessex can only be explained through his strong affinity with the pastoral landscapes of the novels.  Indeed, Hardy’s Wessex acted as a foil to the increasingly urban environment of early 20th century England.  As the sprawling heaths and virgin forests of Hardy’s Wessex became increasingly obsolete, the literary enthusiast began to actively seek out the real-life landscape that inspired Hardy’s renowned novels.  In many respects, their quest was in vain—the rural lifestyle that Thomas Hardy encapsulated in his Wessex was anachronistic in the early 20th century.

However, despite this literary anachronism, the real-life Wessex of Hardy’s Dorset proved to be a fascinating topographical and anthropological destination for Edwardian tourists.  Because the locations in Hardy’s Wessex are so closely based on actual sites in Dorset, it is quite easy to travel through the author’s fictional literary region.

Touring the sites that inspired Wessex is especially necessary in order to understand Thomas Hardy’s imaginative topography and anthropology.  Although its landscape is quite similar to Wessex, Dorset is less romantic and massive than its fictional counterpart.  For instance, the imposing Egdon Heath is based on Puddletown and Black Heath, two relatively small sites literally located in Hardy’s backyard.  The author’s ability to romanticize the scale of his native heath demonstrates his ability to mystify Dorset through the creation of mythological Wessex.

By traveling through the Dorsetian equivalent of Wessex, the Hardy enthusiast is better able to separate the reality of Hardy’s inspiration from his often romantic interpretation.  In many respects Thomas Hardy is a naturalistic author, preserving local culture and topography in a written form.  However, more often than not, his literary depiction is exaggerated and perhaps gothic.  By traveling through the real-life Wessex of Dorset, the literary tourist will be able to separate fact from fiction for himself.

Since its genesis nearly a hundred years ago, the Hardy Tourist Industry has attracted thousands of literary enthusiasts every year.  The appeal of Hardy Country extends beyond a simple nostalgia for the pastoral; indeed, visitors are drawn not only to the beauty of the Dorsetian landscape but also to the source of inspiration for Hardy’s topographical masterpiece.  Without the landscape of his native Dorset, Thomas Hardy would not have developed the naturalistic aesthetic that influenced his great literary works.  By visiting his native Dorset himself, the literary enthusiast will not only gain an appreciation of the “real” Wessex, but a deeper understanding of the man behind the naturalistic prose.

© Copyright Clare Keating & Katie Hickey 2007