-The greatest tragic writer among English novelists.--Virginia Woolf
-There is no other novelist alive with the breadth of sympathy, the knowledge or the power for the creation of Jude." -H. G. Wells
Jude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature.
Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background. His childhood schoolmaster has moved away from the village to teach at the University in Christminster. Jude spends his free time self-educating himself with the aspirations of enrolling at Christminster, yet his dreams are thwarted when he falls in love with Arabella, a loutish and deceptive young wom
