‘She matched his violence with her own wild passion’: Illustrating Far from the Madding Crowd

Abstract

First to my title, for which you will search the text of Far from the Madding Crowd — I dare say that of the entire Hardy oeuvre — in vain. It comes from a poster for John Schlesinger’s 1967 film version of Far from the Madding Crowd. Peter Lennon, Hardy collector and proprietor of Casterbridge Books in Chicago, sent me a photograph of it some years ago, with the comment that it would have ‘befuddled Hardy’.1 Indeed. Headed “Zhivago’s” Lara meets “Georgy Girl’s” guy … in the love story of the year!’, the poster contains four colour illustrations. One is of a rather smudgy-faced Julie Christie (Bathsheba) clinging tightly to an even smudgier Alan Bates (Gabriel Oak) as they escape from a raging conflagration: the caption reads, ‘She was sure of his love … in spite of her other men!’ In another illustration a coquettish Christie permits a worshipful Peter Finch (Boldwood) to kiss her hand; in a third a windblown Christie runs through a field, her cleavage prominent and knee-length skirt riding high up stockingless thigh. Finally, the caption that has supplied me with my title, ‘She matched his violence with her own wild passion’, accompanies the image of Christie, distinctly déshabillé, in the arms of a certainly shirtless and possibly naked Terence Stamp (Troy).2KeywordsRural LifeVisual ReadingLove StorySaturday ReviewFilm PosterThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.