The history of this novel (whose birth in its pres ent shape has been much retarded by the necessities of periodical publication) is briefly as follows. The scheme was jotted down in 1890, from notes made in 1887 and onward, some of the circumstances being suggested by the death of a woman in the former year. The scenes were revisited in October, 1892; the narrative was written in outline in 1892 and the spring'of 1893, and at full length, as it now 'appears, from August, 1893, onward into the next year; the whole, with the exception of a few chapters, being in the hands of the publisher by the end of 1894. It was begun as a serial story in harper's magazine at the end of November, 1894, and was continued in monthly parts.

トマス・ハーディの絶筆となった本作は、個人の純粋な向上心や愛が、旧弊な社会制度や宗教的偽善に打ち砕かれる様を描いた衝撃の悲劇です。ジュードの学問への渇望と、スーとの不条理な愛は、読者に「真の自由とは何か」を痛烈に問いかけます。緻密な心理描写が生む圧倒的な絶望感は、文字を通じて魂を激しく揺さぶる文学的極致と言えるでしょう。 実写映像化では陰鬱な美しさが際立ちましたが、原作には視覚を超えた「運命の重圧」が濃厚に漂います。テキストならではの深い内面描写を味わった後に映像に触れることで、人物の苦悩はより鮮烈に補完され、両メディアの相乗効果は凄まじいものとなります。この残酷なまでに美しい傑作に、ぜひその身を投じてみてください。