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How did George Meredith advise Thomas Hardy about The Poor Man and the Lady?
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Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy.
When George Meredith reviewed Thomas Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, in his capacity as a publisher's reader, he advised Hardy to write a novel that was more shapely and less opinionated.1
Following this guidance, Hardy moved away from the class-conscious themes of his initial manuscript and produced the densely plotted Desperate Remedies (1871).1