''The greatest tragic writer among the English novelists'' Virginia WoolfWith its depiction of the wronged ''pure woman'' Tess and its powerful criticism of Victorian hypocrisy, Tess of the D''Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy''s novels. When its heroine, Tess Durbeyfield, is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D''Urbervilles, meeting her ''cousin'' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. Edited with notes by TIM DOLIN and an Introduction by MARGARET R. HIGONNET