Jude the Obscure (Modern Library Classics) [Paperback]

Thomas Hardy (Author), Rosellen Brown (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Modern Library Classics | Publication Date: August 14, 2001

Upon its first appearance in 1895, Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure shocked Victorian critics and readers with a frank depiction of sexuality and an unbridled indictment of the institutions of marriage, education, and religion, reportedly causing one Angli-can bishop to order the book publicly burned. The experience so exhausted Hardy that he never wrote a work of fiction again.

Rich in symbolism, Jude the Obscure is the story of Jude Fawley and his struggle to rise from his station as a poor Wessex stonemason to that of a scholar at Christminster. It is also the story of Jude’s ill-fated relationship with his cousin Sue Bridehead, and the ultimate tragedy that causes Jude’s undoing and Sue’s transformation. Jude the Obscure explores man’s essential loneliness and remains one of Hardy’s most widely read novels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The greatest tragic writer among English novelists."
--Virginia Woolf

From the Inside Flap

Upon its first appearance in 1895, Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure shocked Victorian critics and readers with a frank depiction of sexuality and an unbridled indictment of the institutions of marriage, education, and religion, reportedly causing one Angli-can bishop to order the book publicly burned. The experience so exhausted Hardy that he never wrote a work of fiction again.

Rich in symbolism, Jude the Obscure is the story of Jude Fawley and his struggle to rise from his station as a poor Wessex stonemason to that of a scholar at Christminster. It is also the story of Jude’s ill-fated relationship with his cousin Sue Bridehead, and the ultimate tragedy that causes Jude’s undoing and Sue’s transformation. Jude the Obscure explores man’s essential loneliness and remains one of Hardy’s most widely read novels.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (August 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375757414
• ISBN-13: 978-0375757419
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #588,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > Hardy, Thomas
  • #58 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > British > 19th Century

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unrelentingly bleak, February 11, 2007

By 

Gary Schroeder "GS23" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jude the Obscure (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

This novel is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions and if you're looking for happy endings, this isn't the story for you. The central theme surrounds the defiance of cultural norms and the consequences of same. Sue is the love of Jude's life. The main obstacle: Sue's flightly, unpredictable and unconventional nature. It's her liberal critical thinking that attracts Jude to her, but it's also his (and her) ultimate undoing.

As a reader, I found Sue's actions maddening: she leads Jude on, then spurns him, then leads him on again. She leaves her husband for him...yet she refuses to marry Jude for fear that the conventions of marriage would sully thier "pure form" of love. This see-saw relationship goes on for hundreds of pages. I knew I was engaged in the book when I shouted at Jude for not waking up and running away from this obvious kook of a woman. Then again, his willingness to put up with her unbearable behavior made me think they were made for each other: two loons together in a world of stiflingly normative behavior.

As if this wasn't unsatisfying enough, Hardy really pours on the tragedy in the last 100 pages. I won't ruin it by spreading the details here, but you'll basically be begging the author to let you off of the emotional wrestling mat by page 450. In the end, I conclude that the author's point is that (1) don't buck the system too strenuously lest you be smacked down, and (2) life's miserable; don't go thinking that you can escape it because your love is powerful or your mind is open. That's Great English Literature for you, right there.