GajimaruClassics.
Jude the ObscureOn the coverMan with a Hoe, Jean-François Millet, 1860–1862
Jude the Obscure
A poor, bookish stonemason dreams of the university at Christminster that will never admit him, and loves against every rule of his time, in the bleakest and most controversial of Hardy’s novels.
Character notes and context for the chapter you’ve read.
Hardy’s fiercest, most modern novel, a heartbreaking indictment of a world that crushes the aspirations of the poor. Bleak, and unforgettable in its compassion and rage.
SettingWessex, 1890s
Late-Victorian England, where class barred the poor from learning, marriage was a life sentence, and to defy either was to be broken by respectable opinion.