Paula Byrne: belief

Transcript context

…If one visits Wessex today, are there still traces of Hardy’s world, or is it just simply homogenized and that’s quite gone? I think it is quite homogenized. The house, Max Gate, which is where I got the idea for writing the book, obviously retains that original charm. It’s very dark. It’s an ugly house, but I think the spirit is there. I vividly remember two things. One was his study at the top of the house where he wrote Tess, and just feeling the power of that room. Then the other room that really inspired the book was Emma’s attic room where she disappeared for 15 years. I think you get a little feel of that in the house, in Max Gate, and certainly in the cottage because that is so beautiful. I’ve made many pilgrimages to Hardy’s birthplace over the years, and that feels so unspoiled. Dorchester, for example, is grim. It’s shut down. It’s just a horrible place. You don’t really get much of the sense of the real rustic flavor, but the cottage is charming still. Let’s say if one goes to Cornwall or Northumbria, you do feel traces of the past. Liverpool, for that matter. Why not Wessex? What went wrong there?…

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