Thomas Hardy is probably known as a novelist, which is how he established himself from 1871 to 1896. He is associated with the English county of Dorset, which he fictionalized into "Wessex". He wrote Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, and Jude the Obscure, for example. But Hardy's view of fate (which was often branded a "pessimist") and his criticism of society, especially in its treatment of women, always drew criticism, and after the reception of Jude (which, by the way, is a bleak novel!), he stopped writing fiction and ....