The Fires at Max Gate, Professor Dante Blythes biography of Thomas Hardy 18401928, would not be the last word on the Victorian novelist. There was always room for more speculation. Yet, any material evidence of controversy was burned in the authors garden at Max Gate, Thomas Hardys residence since 1885. The fires, destroying all personal papers of a writer who became as controversial as he was acclaimed, were ignited initially by Hardy late in 1927 and, early in 1928, after the authors death by his second wife, Florence. Two things obsessed Blythe about Hardy why had Hardy ceased writing novels at the heart of his literary