La vertu subversive de l’audace chez Hardy (Jude the Obscure) et Fowles (The French Lieutenant’s Woman)

Abstract

When rules—whether social or literary—become too tight, the necessity for change can be felt. The Victorian era is particularly propitious to such a questioning. Yet, the subversion of codes needs come through opposition, and so, through risk-taking. This article focuses on the way Thomas Hardy and John Fowles, with their respective novels Jude the Obscure and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, demonstrated their audacity so as to subvert the social and literary conventions of their time. To what extent have these two works marked an evolution and what was its limits?