Jude the Obscure

I just finished reading Jude the Obscure today. It is a wonderful book, if gloomy. In fact, the book is riveting from start to finish, for Hardy's insight into human nature is penetrating, and the theme is of relevance to all generations. This was my third Hardy book (after Tess and The Mayor of Casterbridge), and I'm sure I'll read another one or two before the summer is out. I read the book in the Oxford World's Classics series, whose footnotes provided a diachronic analysis of the novel throughout its revisions showing, in particular, the development of the characters of Sue and Phillotson. I might post more on this, but then again, I might not.

In other news, I went to a famous fortress in Suwon with Ian the other day; look for the pics and commentary within the next week.