Publisher's Synopsis
Thomas Hardy's deterministic art achieves fanatic intensity and raw perfection in the characterization of Jude Fawley, an impoverished stone mason who aspires to the ministry. Throughout his agonized existence, the cloistered halls and facades of Christminster -- where Jude wishes to study -- tempt and mock him to rid himself of ignorance. His failure to fulfill the expectations of either of the two women he loves, and the violent deaths of his children thwart him in his ideal and lead to his destruction. Concerned with the annihilation of innocence, Jude the Obscure is a scathing portrait of 19th-century British society.
