D is for Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

D'ya geddit? D'Urbervilles!

As luck would have it, today's post ties in with the Insecure Writers Support Group, because Tess of the D'Urbervilles made me insecure when I read it at A Level. I found it difficult to read and to understand, and I really didn't see the point. It made me feel I shouldn't be in the class. Everyone else had really important things to say about it, and I didn't. Because what I really wanted to say, but was too insecure to say, was:

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Mr English Teacher, Sir, this story is based on a small misunderstanding which should have been easily cleared up, if Tess had been the kind of strong heroine that I've come to expect in literature. Lizzie Bennett is a strong heroine. Even Jane Eyre is strong (even, because I don't much like that book either - I'm a rubbish Literature student, Sir).

Maybe Tess is the kind of girl who was abound in 19th century England. But it's a hard task to imagine - as a 20th century girl (as I was) - that level of docility and sappiness. I can't do it, and I won't do it. I would say more, but I'm on a word count limit!

(At this point, you need to imagine me packing up my folder and walking out of the class, leaving my copy of Tess on the desk, only returning when we move onto the next topic - which was probably metaphysical poetry).

Ah, that's better. Twenty years of insecurity unburdened!