Cover -- Copyright and Licence -- Title Page -- Contents -- A note on the author -- 1. Preliminary Matter -- 1.1. Editorial Note and Acknowledgements -- 1.2. Abbreviations -- 1.3 Foreword -- 2. Biographical -- 2.1. Hardy's Progress -- 2.2. Personal Aspects of Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- 3. The Composition of Tess of the d'Urbervilles and its Modes of Publication -- 3.1. Composition and Early Publication -- 3.2. Subsequent Versions -- 4. The Opening, the Plot and the Narration -- 4.1. The Title, Sub-Title and Epigraph -- 4.2. A Plot-Summary and Its Limitations -- 4.3. Rape and Seduction -- 4.4. Characterisation -- 4.5. Narration -- 5. Themes and Contexts -- 5.1. Religion, Scepticism and Morality -- 5.2. Politics -- 6. Literary Aspects -- 6.1. Naturalism and Realism -- 6.2. Leitmotifs and Themes -- 6.3. Optical Effects and Defamiliarisation -- 6.4. Language -- 7. Rural Representation -- 7.1. Talbothays -- 7.2. Flintcomb-Ash -- 8. Critical Survey -- 8.1. Contemporaneous Responses -- 8.2. Subsequent Responses -- 9. Conclusion -- 10. Bibliography -- 10.1. Bibliographies -- 10.2. Texts of Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- 10.3. Other Works by Hardy -- 10.4. Biographies and Related Works -- 10.5. Critical, Scholarly and Contextual Material -- 10.6. Films and Television Productions of Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- 10.7. Journals -- 10.8. Websites.