영국의 소설가, 시인이며 도오셔 지방에서 1840년 6월 2일 석공의 아들로 태어났다. 석공인 아버지의 직업에 따라 교회건축가의 제자로 일하면서 독학으로 문학을 공부하였다.청년 하디는 21세 때 런던에 정착하게 되면서 문학도로서 견문을 넓혀 나갔다. 25세 때부터 시, 소설을 쓰기 시작했으며 첫 단편 『좁은 자의 이야기』를 발표하면서 영국문단에 발을 들여놓게 되었다.

하디의 중요작품으로는 『테스』『귀향』『숲의 사람들』『캐스터 브리지의 시장 』 등 여러작품과 단편집『알리샤의 일기』『환상을 쫓는 여인』등 수많은 시집을 남겼다. 특히 『테스』『귀향』등은 세계인의 사랑을 받으며 당시 영국 사회에 큰 파문을 일으키기도 했다. 영국 정부는 1928년 하디가 88세의 나이로 세상을 떠나자 그의 문학적 공헌을 인정하여 국장으로 장례를 지내주었다.


Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school. At sixteen, Hardy was apprenticed to an architect, and for many years, architecture was his profession; in his spare time, he pursued his first and last literary love, poetry. Finally convinced that he could earn his living as an author, he retired from architecture, married, and devoted himself to writing. An extremely productive novelist, Hardy published an important book every year or two. In 1896, disturbed by the public outcry over the unconventional subjects of his two greatest novels and he announced that he was giving up fiction and afterward produced only poetry. In later years, he received many honors. He died on January 11, 1928, and was buried in Poet’s Corner, in Westminster Abbey. It was as a poet that he wished to be remembered, but today critics regard his novels as his most memorable contribution to English literature for their psychological insight, decisive delineation of character, and profound presentation of tragedy.