Jude the Obscure

by Hardy, Thomas; Ingham, Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780192802613
• ISBN10: 0192802615
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Hardy's last and most controversial novel, Jude the Obscure caused much outrage when it was published in 1895. Jude Fawley, poor and working-class, longs to study at the University of Christminster, but his ambitions to go to university are thwarted by class prejudice and his entrapment in aloveless marriage. He falls in love with his unconventional cousin, Sue Bridehead, and their refusal to marry when free to do so confirms their rejection of and by the world around them. The shocking fate that overtakes them is an indictment of a rigid and uncaring society. This is the first trulycritical edition, taking account of the changes that Hardy made over twenty-five years. Hardy's last, and most controversial novel, this revised edition has the first truly critical text, a new chronology and bibliography, and substantially revised notes.

Author Biography

Patricia Ingham is Fellow and Tutor in English at St. Anne's College, Oxford University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vi
General Editor's Preface	vii
Map of Hardy's Wessex	viii
Introduction	xi
Note on the Text	xxii
Select Bibliography	xxvi
A Chronology of Thomas Hardy	xxix
Jude the Obscure	1	(398)
Explanatory Notes	399