--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The ideology of liberal humanism found…" description: "\"“The ideology of liberal humanism found expression in the earliest reviews of Hardy’s writing and remained a dominant force until the explosion of lite..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c34/geoffrey-harvey-35473_books_the-ideology-of-liberal-humanism-found-e_1647153.jpg" --- # The ideology of liberal humanism found expression in the… ![“The ideology of liberal humanism found expression in the earliest reviews of Hardy’s writing and remained a dominant force until the explosion of literary theory in the 1980s. It is a broad and still influential category. It endorses the moral value of the individual, and the strength of the human…” quote by Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c34/geoffrey-harvey-35473_books_the-ideology-of-liberal-humanism-found-e_1647153.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c34/geoffrey-harvey-35473_books_the-ideology-of-liberal-humanism-found-e_1647153.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c34/geoffrey-harvey-35473_books_the-ideology-of-liberal-humanism-found-e_1647153.jpg) > ““The ideology of liberal humanism found expression in the earliest reviews of Hardy’s writing and remained a dominant force until the explosion of literary theory in the 1980s. It is a broad and still influential category. It endorses the moral value of the individual, and the strength of the human spirit. It prefers the integrity of an organic rural society to the anonymity and materialism of an urbanised and technological world. Applied to fiction, this ideology involves the naturalisation of the novel’s world and its values, and the recognition of fictional character as presenting a unified subject.”” [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote describes liberal humanism as valuing individual morality, rural integrity, and a unified human spirit against urban materialism, shaping how fiction portrays characters and settings. **In simple terms:** Liberal humanism values individuals and rural life over urban materialism. Key Takeaway Recognize the moral and communal dimensions in narratives. Themes individualism rural ideal human spirit urban critique literary theory Mood reflective analytical Type critical theoretical When to use this quote - teaching literature - writing fiction - cultural analysis - community building Key Concepts moral philosophy organic society character unity Questions to Reflect On - How does liberal humanism influence modern storytelling? - Can rural ideals coexist with urban realities? A Different Perspective May overlook complexities of urban experiences and diverse identities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Fictional character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fictional-character/) [Human spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-spirit/) [Humanism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanism/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“In trying times, or in times of great moral crises, it is not political ideology - neither liberal nor conservative, progressive nor reactionary, left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/in-trying-times-or-in-times-of-great-moral-crises-it-is-not-political/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [Since the revolution of the 18th century, America has basically had an ideology of liberal democracy and constitutionalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-p-huntington/since-the-revolution-of-the-18th-century-america-has-basically-had-an/) [Samuel P. Huntington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-p-huntington/) > [Western liberal humanism is not something that comes naturally to us: like an appreciation of art or poetry, it has to be cultivated. Humanism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/western-liberal-humanism-is-not-something-that-comes-naturally-to-us/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“A huge gulf is opening between liberal humanism and the latest findings of the life sciences, a gulf we cannot ignore much longer”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/a-huge-gulf-is-opening-between-liberal-humanism-and-the-latest/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [“The impotence of liberal humanism is a symptom of its essentially contradictory relationship to modern capitalism. 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Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/hardy-s-poetry-is-pre-eminently-about-ways-of-seeing-this-is-evident/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“Extremely self-conscious in its craft, in many ways The Hand of Ethelberta is an exploration of fiction as illusion, which involves parody of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/extremely-self-conscious-in-its-craft-in-many-ways-the-hand-of/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“In his Preface to the 1892 edition of Tess of the d’Urbervilles Hardy warns the reader that ‘a novel is an impression, not an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/in-his-preface-to-the-1892-edition-of-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-hardy/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“Hardy classified A Pair of Blue Eyes among ‘Romances and Fantasies’. A favourite of Tennyson, its melancholy treatment of youth, love and death is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/hardy-classified-a-pair-of-blue-eyes-among-romances-and-fantasies-a/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“An important dimension of Tess of the d’Urbervilles is its debt to the oral tradition; to stories about wronged milkmaids, tales of superstition, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/an-important-dimension-of-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-is-its-debt-to/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) ## More by Geoffrey Harvey > [“Hardy classified A Pair of Blue Eyes among ‘Romances and Fantasies’. A favourite of Tennyson, its melancholy treatment of youth, love and death is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/hardy-classified-a-pair-of-blue-eyes-among-romances-and-fantasies-a/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“In his Preface to the 1892 edition of Tess of the d’Urbervilles Hardy warns the reader that ‘a novel is an impression, not an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/in-his-preface-to-the-1892-edition-of-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-hardy/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“Extremely self-conscious in its craft, in many ways The Hand of Ethelberta is an exploration of fiction as illusion, which involves parody of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/extremely-self-conscious-in-its-craft-in-many-ways-the-hand-of/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“Hardy’s poetry is pre-eminently about ways of seeing. This is evident in the numerous angles of vision he employs in so many poems. Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/hardy-s-poetry-is-pre-eminently-about-ways-of-seeing-this-is-evident/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“An important dimension of Tess of the d’Urbervilles is its debt to the oral tradition; to stories about wronged milkmaids, tales of superstition, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/an-important-dimension-of-tess-of-the-d-urbervilles-is-its-debt-to/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“Hardy’s astonishing technical versatility has won the admiration of major poets from Ezra Pound and Cecil Day Lewis to Philip Larkin. Among other genres…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/hardy-s-astonishing-technical-versatility-has-won-the-admiration-of/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“However, for Hardy the possibility of poetry’s traditional function of transcendence remains, but in a more limited form. In Hardy’s work the poet transcends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/however-for-hardy-the-possibility-of-poetry-s-traditional-function-of/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“A turning point in the criticism of Hardy’s poetry came in his centenary year, in which W. H. Auden (1940) recorded his indebtedness to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/a-turning-point-in-the-criticism-of-hardy-s-poetry-came-in-his/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“The setting, concerns, and mood of The Woodlanders are consonant with the Wessex of the earlier novels. 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Throughout the novel she is shown as experiencing tension between the intractable materiality of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-harvey/tess-is-not-simply-presented-as-a-passive-victim-however-throughout/) [Geoffrey Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-harvey/) > [“The 1980s witnessed radical advances in the theorisation of the study of literature in the universities. 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