Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Tess first appeared in a serialized—and bowdlerized—form in The Graphic in 1891. 'A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented,' as Hardy subtitled the work, represented a direct challenge to conventional notions of sexuality and femininity—and, though conventions have radically changed in the past century, the character of Tess has remained a challenging one. In her introduction Maier argues that we should not see Tess merely as a passive victim; she suggests that a combination of sexual vigour and moral rigour makes Tess not just one of the greatest but also one of the strongest women in the canon of English literature.