Product Description

Jude Fawley’s hopes of a university education are lost when he is trapped into marrying the earthy Arabella, who later abandons him. Moving to the town of Christminster where he finds work as a stonemason, Jude meets and falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead, a sensitive, freethinking ‘New Woman’. Refusing to marry merely for the sake of religious convention, Jude and Sue decide instead to live together, but they are shunned by society and poverty soon threatens to ruin them. Jude the Obscure, Hardy’s last novel, caused a public furore when it was first published, with its fearless and challenging exploration of class and sexual relationships.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3560 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Dale Kramer, University of Oregon.
"Cedric Watts's edition of Jude the Obscure is one of an extremely interesting set of literary works from Broadview Press."

English Literature in Transition
"Broadview Press and editor Cedric Watts have done a splendid job."

From the Publisher
The Broadview Editions series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Editions series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

Customer Reviews

Well written but appallingly conceived
Thomas Hardy cinematic writing is extraordinarily visual and pulls new readers into his redrawn world of Wessex. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is probably his most popular novel, while The Mayor of Casterbridge is the most complete.

However, Hardy's characters suffer from being sometimes little more than instruments of his plot aspirations. This is least true in the Mayor of Casterbridge, and most true in Jude the Obscure. When his plot aspirations are benign, as in Far from the Madding Crowd, this is fairly easy to overlook. When the characters are otherwise compelling, such as Tess, most readers will let a single slip by. However, in Jude the Obscure we have a character whom Hardy has determined will lead a miserable life, through no fault of his own, and largely a result of society's refusal to accept his high moral principles.

Hardy's morbid desire to write stories of this kind is famously discussed by T S Eliot in After strange gods, although his view is somewhat rebutted by David Cecil in Hardy The Novelist - An Essay in Criticism. You can argue back and forth about whether Hardy really was morbid, but Jude the Obscure is certainly the book which furnishes the most evidence. The 'Little Father Time' element, for example, is strange, unconvincing, and serves only to emphasise the injustice of life which Hardy is trying to demonstrate.

If you're studying Hardy at A-level or university, then you absolutely have to read this book, because it's impossible to understand Hardy without it. If you're reading through the Hardy canon for pleasure, though, you might be better starting on Tess of the D'Urbervilles, the Mayor of Casterbridge, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Woodlanders, The Return of the Native and Under the Greenwood Tree.

Hardy's visual gift and writing style does not desert him in this novel, but his underlying conception is deeply flawed.

A (surprisingly) great novel!
I loved this book! When I decided to read it I had so many preconceptions about what it would be like (sadly, I used to equate Hardy with `boring'). I was so wrong. A lot of people warned me against Hardy's writing style, but in Jude it was so beautifully descriptive - he brings the characters and their environment to life. When I sat down to read this, I truly felt myself melt into Jude's world. Furthermore, as a couple of other reviewers have mentioned, I was really shocked by the action of the novel. I found myself enthralled by certain scenes, and when the book came to a close I was seriously gutted - I wanted more. I would definitely recommend!

Surprise Literature read
I had to read this for my 3rd year university English course. I made a special effort this year to try and read as much of the required reading as possible, and this was one of the best of the bunch.

It is fairly easy to read, and has an interesting enough plot line to keep you involved. I recommend it as light reading, but do a little analysis and research and you'll find there's a lot of modernist themes in there too. Be aware there are one or two (nasty) twists in the story too.