Description

Book Synopsis
I’m an outsider to the end of my days!

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 furor when it was first published, with its fearless and challenging exploration of class and sexual relationships.

This edition uses the unbowdlerized text of the first volume edition of 1895, and also includes a list for further reading, appendices and a glossary. In his introduction, Dennis Taylor examines biblical allusions and the critique of religion in
Trade Review
'His style touches sublimity'
—T.S. Eliot

'The greatest tragic writer among English novelists'
—Virginia Woolf

Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy Penguin Classics

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    A Paperback / softback by Thomas Hardy, Dennis Taylor

    £9.25

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 29 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 7 May 1998
      ISBN-13 9780140435382
      978-0140435382
      ISBN-10 0140435387
      Also in:
      Books by Thomas Hardy

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      I’m an outsider to the end of my days!

      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 furor when it was first published, with its fearless and challenging exploration of class and sexual relationships.

      This edition uses the unbowdlerized text of the first volume edition of 1895, and also includes a list for further reading, appendices and a glossary. In his introduction, Dennis Taylor examines biblical allusions and the critique of religion in
      Trade Review
      'His style touches sublimity'
      —T.S. Eliot

      'The greatest tragic writer among English novelists'
      —Virginia Woolf

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