This chapter maps the biographical, theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the book. It opens with examples of Hardy’s mediated encounters with the imperial world-system to highlight the all-encompassing yet uneven nature of imperial intrusions in late nineteenth-century Britain. The chapter then sets the stage for a world-literary analysis of Hardy’s fiction, initially by exploring how the empire has featured so far in Hardy studies. Most interventions in the field have offered a model of Wessex as a kind of domestic colony, whilst neglecting the truly global dimensions of the imperial world-system at play within his fiction. Via a world-literary approach that is deeply informed by the work of the Warwick Research Collective, my book researches the global contours of imperialism in Hardy and, in addition, assesses how imperial activity is inextricably yoked to a dynamic of class/gender alienation and conflict within the Wessex semi-periphery. Further notes are offered on the way in which the project develops new directions in postcolonial studies by analysing, namely, how the politics of imperial disaffection, dissent, critique and even protest in Hardy can disrupt popular claims within the discipline that a cohesive imperial society and culture was formed by the late nineteenth century. The final section offers a clarification of terms, a detailed methodology and a chapter outline.