Lady Chatterley's Lover

As part of my commitment to read more classics, I read Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Having read Sons and Lovers by Lawrence earlier this year, I was really looking forward to the prose and character development that I had enjoyed so much in Sons and Lovers. I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up, which is usually the case when I read something - I don't do much research before hand. I was a bit shocked, I must admit, but this was one of the best books I have ever read.

After I had finished reading Lady Chatterley's Lover, I did a bit of research. I didn't know the controversy that surrounded the publishing of this novel. I hindsight, though, I can see why some stuffy people got their nickers in a knot over this book.
   Lawrence wrote it in the 1920s, which shows how progressive he was. It was only printed privately in Italy, until it was finally published openly in the UK in the 1960s. Penguin Publishing was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, but the verdict was "not guilty". Australian banned the book, and as recently as 2009, the Australia Post refused to sell the book in its store or outlets!
   This novel is not smut or obscene, despite some of the uses of the "f-work" and the "c-word". There are very descriptive sex scenes, but overall the book is about intimacy. It was extremely progressive for Lawrence to have been writing about the female orgasim or about menopause. It is the character development and emotion in this novel that saves it. You take the journey that Lady Chatterley takes during her affair. The ending is also magnificently done - it leaves you to meet your own expectations of 'happily ever after'.
   As well as the sex, there is a lot of exploration about the decline of the social fabric of society - about what industrialism is turning the working class into, and also about the lowering of the upper class. It is very much about the class system, and Lady Chatterley's battle against it and struggle to accept her position. It touches on the dissatisfaction of the lower and middle classes, the strikes, and has references to socialism and anarchism.
   I think my own self awareness and sexuality has benefitted from reading this book - I think we should all live with awareness in the moment, and appreciation for what we have, rather than just pretending to live.

February Classics Challenge

This month, the prompt for those participating in the 2012 Classics Challenge, is to write about a character you find interesting.
   I read Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, which was one of the classics I'd chosen. The obvious character for me to focus on for this prompt is Paul Morel, who is the son that Mrs Morel holds most hope for, and is who Lawrence explores his own relationship through with his mother.

Lawrence introduces Paul during his mother's pregnancy. His mother is struggling in his relationship with a drunk husband, and she is struggling to raise her other children in poverty. She is upset to be pregnant again. When Paul is born, he is introduced as an intense baby with a deep frown and brooding silences. Mrs Morel feels very guilty that her regret during the pregnancy has been felt by the baby, and she thinks the baby is either depressed or already carries the worries of the household on him.
   He becomes an intense child, who is shy and insecure. His hate is sudden and fierce, when he feels like someone is making fun of him. There was also a disturbing scene were he burns his sister's doll, because he dropped the doll and broke it.

   Luckily he grows out of this, and becomes a gentle artistic type, although always moody and tending to have a lot of self-doubt. I imagine him to be a slim, delicate, good-looking man - like the model-types today. His brothers were more masculine, big-boned, lots of muscle, and well over 6 feet tall.
   It is his relationship with his mother, and a couple of lovers that he has, that is the focus of the book. He can never love a woman as deeply as his mother. Women 'can't hold him'. He gets deeply passionate, and then it fades and he gets restless and moves on.
   Whilst it is lovely that he loves his mother so much, I blame his mother for making him feel this way, and wrecking him for any other woman. He will end up alone, because no woman can match his mother.
   Paul Morel is an extremely well developed character, and very believable. He is vivid and palpable, but also dissatisfying.

Sons and Lovers

I just finished reading Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence. This is one of the novels that I said I would read for the 2012 Classics Challenge. I loved it! I loved the old feeling of the book and the smell of the pages (the edition I read was published in 1973); I loved the language and the melancholy feeling that it gave me. I was completely carried away whilst I was reading this book.

This novel is apparently a bit of an autobiography for Lawrence, because it is said that he wrestles with 'a serious and intimate emotional problem - his relationship with his mother'. If the character Paul Morel was based on Lawrence (or at least his feelings for his mother), then the love-hate relationship he had with his mother was extreme.
   The cover of the novel, interestingly, features a phoenix. Is this Lawrence, born again out of the dying flames of his love for his mother?
   The pose was very unique - descriptions were often in the language of love. The characters were very sensual, and sexually repressed, so they seemed to find everything in Nature to be very sexual. It caused vivid images for me, and was very refreshing.
   The character development was fantastic, with descriptions of the characters' violent swings in emotions shocking but realistic. I am getting sick of perfect characters is books, who don't have extremes, and are too two-dimensional. The characters in Sons and Lovers jumped out of the page and danced and gyrated around the room!
   Paul is cruel to himself and the women in his life. He is loyal to his mother only, and the sexual love of a woman does not hold him like the deep love he has for his mother.
   It certainly isn't an uplifting story, but very deep and reflective.