In this fresh reading of seven of Hardy's major novels, Marjorie Garson argues that the fiction is shaped by a pervasive anxiety about the body and about bodily disintegration. Taking as its starting-point the many somatic images and metaphors within the novels, the book uncovers a subtext about the threat of bodily and psychic dissolution which shapes both Hardy's powerful depiction of nature and his ambivalent treatment of women. This approach focuses concentration on aspects of the fiction which are often underemphasized, especially the figurative dimension of Hardy's language and his treatment of his minor characters; and accounts for peculiarities in tone, plotting, and characterization which have always attracted critical attention. A study which will substantially change the way the texts are interpreted, Hardy's Fables of Integrity will be of particular interest to students of critical theory and to feminists, as well as to anyone attracted by the peculiar power of the Hardyan voice.