Jude the Obscure features one of those catch-in-your-throat, tragic scenes in literature, particularly when you aren't prepared for it. In 1895, when Thomas Hardy first published his novel, the book was so controversial that he never wrote another book--instead devoting his energies to poetry.

It's not shocking that his characters are tragic (his novels are peopled with tragic characters); it's not shocking that Jude died alone and unhappy, or that he was never able to fulfill his dreams. So, why was it so controversial? Why did Little Father Time write: "Done because we are too menny"? Why is this one of those novels that sticks in the back of your brain? Are we ever really the same again?

In Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy writes: "Their lives were ruined...; ruined by the fundamental error of their matrimonial union: that of having based a permanent contract on a temporary feeling."

Here's a review of Jude the Obscure, by James Topham.

Cover Art © W.W. Norton & Co.