Jude the Obscure | Social Concerns
Poet and critic A. Alvarez, in an afterward for the 1961 edition of Jude the Obscure, comments on its public reception in an effort to articulate what for many readers is a central riddle surrounding this narrative, that it is among the best novels Thomas Hardy ever wrote and one of the indispensable books in late nineteenth century British fiction. Yet with its completion Hardy ceased to regard himself as a novelist and devoted his remaining thirty-two years to poetry and drama. Alvarez writes that the novel "provoked an outcry as noisy as that which recently greeted [D. H....
[The entire page is 2761 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Tell a friend about Jude the Obscure at eNotes.
