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Acknowledgments
In June 1995, I studied at Trinity College Oxford University, an academic adventure that introduced me to scholars in the field of Victorian Literature to whom I am forever grateful for having met, fueling the inspiration for this project. Dr. Mark Hennelly, in particular, led me to pursue this study abroad and shortly after became my advisor, introducing me to a number of texts and theorists wrestling with the cultural dynamics of nineteenth-century thought.
I would like to thank the English Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for facilitating the Study Abroad Oxford Program, which familiarized me with Dorset County, the literary landscape in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
At California State University, Jack Jamieson and Sheree Meyer helped me to form a more cogent understanding of literary theory and its application to the lives of female characters studied in the texts discussed in this project. With the warmest gratitude, I am especially indebted to Dr. Victor Comerchero, who inspired me years ago, beginning in 1989, who encouraged me to write outside the dominant modes of literary criticism, and who mentored me through this entire project with his careful reading, criticism, and suggestions.