GajimaruClassics.
Tess of the d'UrbervillesOn the coverYoung Girl in a Wheat Field, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1875
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
A poor country girl, wronged early and judged forever after, struggles for dignity and love against a merciless social and moral order. Hardy’s fierce, tragic indictment of Victorian hypocrisy.
Character notes and context for the chapter you’ve read.
A heartbreaking, furious novel that dares you to keep judging its heroine, and shames the world that does. Hardy’s landscapes alone are worth the read; the anger stays with you.
SettingRural England, 1880s
A vanishing rural England where old farming life was breaking up, a woman’s “purity” was policed without mercy, and one misfortune could brand a poor girl for the rest of her days.
On screen & beyond
- Roman Polanski’s film Tess (1979)