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DH (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885-1930)
Who?
The man who brought raw passion and candid love to a book shop near you, but only after he was prosecuted for obscenity with his novels The Rainbow and Lady Chatterley's Lover because of their descriptions of sex and use of swear words. Born in Nottinghamshire, he was the son of a miner.
Must reads
White Peacock (1911), The Trespasser (1912), Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), Women In Love (written 1916, published 1920), Look! We Have Come Through (1917), The Lost Girl (1920), Aaron's Rod (1922), Kangaroo (1923), Studies in Classic American Literature (1923), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928, published in England in full 1961).
Darkest hour
After being shocked at his prosecution for obscenity, Lawrence moved to Italy in 1919. He later went to live in New Mexico. He developed tuberculosis.
Greatest triumph
The posthumous publication in full of Lady Chatterley's Lover, describing a passionate love affair between an upper class married woman and her husband's gamekeeper. Before 1961 the book had been published with sections deemed obscene removed. Penguin Books was in its turn prosecuted for obscenity, and acquitted only after a sensational trial, which many saw as a taste of the increased sexual freedom that followed.
Essential quotes
'Be a good animal, true to your instincts.' (The White Peacock)
'Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up.' (Women In Love)
'John Thomas says goodnight to Lady Jane, a little droopingly, but with a hopeful heart.' (Lady Chatterley's Lover)
Gossip
In 1912 he fell in love with Frieda Weekley (neé von Richthofen), six years older than himself, the wife of the man who had been his professor at university. They eloped to Germany and embarked on what became a stormy, constantly moving relationship. Good material for the tempestuous lovers in his writing.
Film versions
Ken Russell's famous (infamous?) 1969 version of Women in Love featuring a nude wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed.
What to say
His work explores the culture of his own surroundings and his descriptions can be extremely revealing, but feminist critics attack him for being phallocentric – supporting society organised around masculinity.
Don't say
Isn't it really just smut?
Copies of the featured books can be purchased from various suppliers including Amazon, Blackwell's and WHSmith.
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