Abstract:

Hardy and Lu Yao, the most remarkable local novelists in Britain and in China, are both concerned about the bleak fate of rural peasants in turbulent times. Yet, they differ in tones. Hardy, under the influence of Greek fatalism, composes in his novels an elegy for the country life intruded by industrialization. The characters in Hardy's novel act passively and helplessly in the face of social riots. While Lu Yao, imbued with Confucian doctrines, takes the social change with enthusiasm. Hence, the characters in his novels, instead of resigning themselves to the fate, strive to adjust themselves to the social change and to fit in the new age.

Key words: Hardy, Lu Yao, native complex, Wessex, yellow earth, fatalism, Confucianism