{"product_id":"2026200008889-secondhand-jude-the-obscure","title":"Jude The Obscure","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure stands as one of the most powerful and controversial novels in the English literary canon, a searing indictment of Victorian society's rigid class structures and hypocritical moral codes. The novel chronicles the tragic life of Jude Fawley, a stonemason from rural England who burns with intellectual ambition and dreams of studying at the prestigious university city of Christminster, only to find every path blocked by his humble origins. His fateful entanglement with the manipulative Arabella and his profound, ill-fated love for his freethinking cousin Sue Bridehead drive a narrative of unrelenting heartbreak and social critique. Hardy presents marriage, religion, and education as institutions that crush rather than elevate the human spirit, arguing with unflinching force that the social order is fundamentally hostile to those born outside its privileges. First published in 1895, the novel caused such an uproar for its frank treatment of marriage and sexuality that Hardy abandoned novel writing entirely, turning exclusively to poetry for the rest of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48956422848731,"sku":"2026200008889-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/afa58d7c-2123-4d97-90e0-8607481dde29.png?v=1783500839","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200008889-secondhand-jude-the-obscure","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}