University criticised after slapping classic Thomas Hardy novel Jude The Obscure with a trigger warning as it could ‘upset’ students with its adult themes
University criticized after slamming classic Thomas Hardy novel Jude The Obscure with a trigger warning as it could ‘disturb’ students with its mature themes
- Students at the University of Exeter have been warned about Thomas Hardy’s novel
- It said that ‘Jude The Obscure contains topics that students may find shocking’
A university has been criticized for issuing a ‘trigger warning’ for Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude The Obscure.
Students of English literature studying a module called Sex, Scandal And Sensation In Victorian Literature at the University of Exeter have been warned that Hardy’s 1895 novel has the potential to be “upset” due to its mature themes.
The warning, a copy of which was obtained by the MoS under freedom of information laws, reads: “Jude The Obscure contains topics that students may find disturbing, including sexual coercion, murder and suicide.”
But last night, Oscar-winning playwright Julian Fellowes said, “The difficulty with trigger alerts is that they assume the student body is emotionally immature. I prefer to believe that anyone qualified to study at a university is mature enough to research and judge great works of literature for themselves.’
Some Victorian critics were offended by Hardy’s portrayal of sex, marriage and the church. One called the novel “Jude The Obscene,” while the Bishop of Wakefield burned his copy.
The warning said that ‘Jude The Obscure contains topics that students may find shocking’
Hardy’s novel is one of two works on the track that have their own specific caveat.
Students are also warned that the 1893 anonymous pornographic novel Teleny, also known as The Reverse of the Medal, contains “graphic depictions of sex, including rape, incest, and other subjects that students may find disturbing.”
Other works on the module, including Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Wilkie Collins’ The Women in White, are covered by a general warning that applies throughout the module, stating: Please note that some of the material in this module may be offensive, including images of explicit violence and explicit sex.’
But it’s the warning applied to Hardy’s Jude the Obscure that raises eyebrows.
The book, which was published in 1895 and is the author’s last completed novel, tells the story of Jude Fawley, an idealistic working-class stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar.
However, Fawley’s dreams of a new life are hampered by his attraction to two very different women.
They are the scheming and duplicitous Arabella Donn, whom he marries twice, and his free-thinking cousin Sue Bridehead, with whom he lives out of wedlock.
Jude has children with both women, but his son with Arabella, who is nicknamed Little Father Time, eventually commits suicide and his two step-siblings.
Students at the University of Exeter have been warned about Thomas Hardy’s novel
Mark Chutter, the academic director of the Thomas Hardy Society, said the University of Exeter had been naive to apply the warning.
He said Hardy was “hurt” by the criticism surrounding the work, adding: “He loved a paradox, so I understand the need to protect students at all costs, but this shouldn’t undermine or undermine their love of literature or distract or scare them off. of reading this classic.’
A spokesman for the University of Exeter said: ‘The University of Exeter is providing the information so that students are aware that Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure contains subjects they may find disturbing, including sexual coercion, murder and suicide.’