D.H. Lawrence is scandalous. He's most famous for Lady Chatterly's Lover, which announces its scandalousness loudly by having "Lover" in the title. It screams, "Sex is happening here!" This got the book banned and censored. Even better! Nothing so titillating as a banned book.
Yeah, except, a lot of the time the books that are banned are not as raunchy as the imagination of the people who banned them. True smut is seldom banned; it's just put in the back room and left for the pervs who want it. And D.H. Lawrence's smut is sort of weak and intellectual. Yes, Lady Chatterly had a lover. And yes, Lawrence tells all. But when you get down to it, the 'all' is kind of disappointing. He tells it like it is, and wouldn't that just be the definition of "prosaic"?
In daily lives, relationships are like that. They're not scandalous—even the scandalous ones.
Well, I read Lady Chatterly a long time ago, and that's not the book I'm reviewing now. I picked up Women in Love because I knew D.H. Lawrence was a highly regarded author, and I had only read LCL and one short story by him. I wondered if his other books were worth reading.
Women in Love starts with two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun. Both of them are extremely modern ladies, but with really old-fashioned names. Gudrun especially has that contrast. I didn't even know Gudrun was a name, it's that archaic, but she herself is an artist. She makes her living at it, even. Ursula is a little more tame; she is a teacher.
There sre the men, too. Gerald Crich and Rupert Birkin reveal themselves as the love interests for the two women in love.
All these four are strained to the breaking point with their sensitivity. They are constantly in rapturous heights, or seriously believe that they will die of their disappointments. It seemed comical to me, after the first time, how overcome they are by their feelings.
And they are constantly in highly intellectual discussions. What is the meaning of things, really? And they come to conclusions, by paths not apparent to others, which are very definite. All so important.
Article comments
1 - Grant Barber
Great movie adaptation of Women in Love with Alan Bates and other great cast. Really worth seeing as well.