Lady Chatterley's Lover: Cambridge Lawrence Edition (Penguin Classics)

I finally read "Lady Chatterly's Lover". I'd heard about it for many years, but what I heard made me think it was just a sex book, written back in the time when that kind of thing was utterly scandalous, which is what made it famous (or infamous, if you prefer), and that's why it has lasted as long as it has. I was wrong. There's a lot more to the book than just sex. There is sex, yes, but the vivid descriptions don't come until quite a ways into the book.At first the book seems to be about depression. The characters have a rather depressing view of life, and of relationships, and the language of the book, the words on the page, the vibe of the book, is dry. You wonder that a whole book of it can have been written and somehow become a classic. As it goes on, you see it's not just about depression, but also the different classes; the working man and the aristocrats. A lot of time is taken on that aspect, all through the book.Then Lady Chatterly finds herself beginning a relationship with someone other than her husband (who returned from the war paralyzed from the waist down) and the whole feel of the book changes. As she opens up, like a flower in the morning to the warmth and light of the sun, the vibe becomes less and less dry, less depressing. The outlook of the characters on relationships, on feelings between people, both physical and mental, change in big ways. Life becomes something to reach for.It's not an easy read, as the language doesn't flow freely, but it's quite worth reading. This book deserves its classic status.As far as the e-book version I read (Lady Chatterly's Lover - The Unexpurgated Edition), all throughout the book there were grammar errors, misspellings, and symbols placed amid letters so that you couldn't tell what some words were supposed to be. Such as "of four" instead of "off our". It made for a bit of a slower read, but looking past that, a worthy one.

This is not of course a review of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which, at this date, can take its chances; it is a review of the AmazonClassics Edition. The edition cost nothing, but unfortunately, I had wanted to read Lawrence's novel, not an error-filled typescript of it. Some sentences don't make grammatical sense, because, for example, "when" has been replaced by "where"; and some are positively misleading, as when we are told that Connie's refuge is "the work," which suggests her husband's writing, and not "the wood." And so on.

SummaryWhen Constance Chatterley’s husband Clifford returns from World War I paralyzed from the legs down, the two try to make the best of a bad situation. Clifford throws himself first into a literary career and later turns an industrial eye toward the mines that pepper his land. Although Connie does her best to support her husband, she falls into a depression. Something vital is missing from her life. She meets the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, a man who is reclusive and insolent, but who attracts Connie in a primitive way. They begin an affair, and through it, Connie finds out what it means to be truly alive.ReviewFrom its title, Lady Chatterley’s Lover sounds like a melodrama. It’s not. This is a novel of ideas, and the story is the canvas upon which the ideas are stitched. What D. H. Lawrence really wants to do is posit a thesis as to the ailments of the modern world, namely, the disconnect mankind has toward their fellow man and the natural and the physical world, due to materialism, industrialization, and over-intellectualism. The solution, he posits, is a return to a more pagan time of “real men and real women,” which means sex.I like my novels to have ideas in them; however, these ideas come at the expense of the story. You might think that Connie cheating on her wheelchair-bound husband would cause drama. It doesn’t. And the reason is simple: no one cares. No one cares about Clifford. No one cares about morals. No one cares about what society thinks. And as such, there are no consequences, only inconveniences. I’d say that this is a comment on the disconnect of people, but I’m not sure it is. I think the problem is that D. H. Lawrence became so enamored with his ideas he forgot about the characters.I liked Clifford, initially. He came across as shy, desirous more of intimacy than sex. He had been dealt a spiritual blow and a blow to his manhood. To make up for it, he chased worldly success. I understood him; I related to him. But midway through the book, D. H. Lawrence proceeds to rip him apart, calling him a crustacean, a child. It’s not just that Clifford morphs into the villain; it’s that the author continuously tells us how we ought to feel about him.Likewise, we are told how we ought to feel about Mellors, whom Lawrence exalts as the pinnacle of manhood. But while Lawrence’s tirade against Clifford did, in fact, make me dislike the poor character, there was nothing on earth Lawrence could say to make me like Mellors. The man was odious. He was bitter, hateful, insolent, and passive. To be honest, he and Clifford had a lot more in common than D. H. Lawrence was willing to admit.The only character who made it through the whole book with my sympathy intact was Connie, and this was because she is the only one who seemed to care about other people at all. Clifford is scared of other people and wants to dominate them. Mellors is scared of other people and wants to escape them. Connie actually seems to like people and comes to their defense.I can’t in good conscience call this book a romance, because that would imply love, and honestly, I did not see it. The characters do have sex, but the scenes are not as plentiful nor as graphic as you might assume. Lady Chatterley’s Lover became notorious for being too explicit to publish in D. H. Lawrence’s native Britain until 1960, and even after publication, the book went on trial for violating obscenity laws. Lady Chatterley’s Lover includes vivid descriptions of nudity, including genitals, and uses some foul languages, including the f-word and the c-word. During the sex scenes, most of the focus is on the character’s mental states and not what is physically going on. The sex is far less graphic than your average romance novel, and I’m not sure modern audiences, unless they were very young or didn’t know what they were in for, would be at all shocked.What might be most shocking to modern audiences (what was most shocking to me) was the racist, misogynistic, and possibly fascist attitudes that reared its head in the latter half of the book. Once D. H. Lawrence defined “manhood” and “womanhood” through sex, those who did not subscribe to his narrow views (i.e., most everyone) were not “true men” or a “true women.” At this point, he began promptly dehumanizing them, heaping scorn on everyone and comparing them to animals. I was horrified when I came to this speech:“Yea, even then the tenderest thing you could do for them [those who are not true men or women], perhaps, would be to give them death. They can’t live! They only frustrate life. Their souls are awful inside them. Death ought to be sweet to them. And I ought to be allowed to shoot them.”To be honest, given the time frame and the themes, Lady Chatterley’s Lover struck me as a way of understanding the ideas and the attitudes leading to the rise of Hitler. That made it interesting to read, but not in the way I was expecting. In this sense, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the opposite of Pride and Prejudice, a title that sounded like an exploration of big, important Ideas, but ended up being a sweet and personal love story. Lawrence’s prose is beautiful, and some of his ideas may have merit. The book has psychological insight, but not, in my mind, true wisdom. It seems to me that if you’re going to spend the whole book making sweeping judgments on humanity, you ought to have the wisdom to back it up.

Lord Chatterley, seriously wounded in the war, is confined to a wheelchair. He’s mostly concerned about his social standing and seeks to find solace in his writing. As he looks to find meaning and purpose to his life in increasingly superficial ways, he fails to notice the difficulties his disability and his emotional detachment forces upon his young, intelligent wife. This especially so when he suggests Connie takes a carefully chosen lover with a view to becoming pregnant – simply to provide him with a son and heir. Lady Chatterley comes to know the estate gamekeeper, and before too long Connie is faced with confronting the differences between the upper and lower classes, forced to make a choice between a future in poorer circumstances with Mellors, or a life of comfortable luxury with her distant, physically challenged husband.A shocking book in its day, it was banned for being considered pornographic, and understandable too when one considers this was written at a time when sex and adultery in literature was taboo. So, D.H.Lawrence was a bit rude and racy with his pen although by today’s standards his sex scenes are positively tame – and perhaps, slightly surreal given the historical differences – although some of the language he uses is quite coarse and explicit. Outside of this element there are a lot of intellectual, albeit honest conversations about the differences between men and women, and the politics of the day. Sadly, I didn’t care for any of the characters and the storyline felt slow and lacking in substance; ultimately the book felt more about bringing attention to the tide of change shifting across the social strata of England, including the oppression of women – especially sexually – and I think its strength lies in highlighting several social messages, rather than a work of pure fiction. Questions are raised as to why it should be so wrong to cross social boundaries and above all, what price wealth against love.

This is not the best of Lawrence, nor the worst. It was overpraised in the sixties at the time of the notorious trial. But the author has now dropped out of the twentieth century canon - wrongly. The descriptions of nature in the novel are remarkably good; the English Midlands which were already in industrial decline are diligently analysed; class is surgically disected. And there is the sexual side. Carnality is good, not a necessary evil. The erotic prose is adorned with Biblical quotations, although the exegesis is unconventional! Passion, yes - but often there are descents to the risible. An imperfect book, but strengths are not lacking!

A story of sexual and social liberation. A real swipe at the 'establishment' and a challenge to what was considered proper at the time. Published for the first time in 1928 and written by a man - hence the notoriety gained by D H Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'.This is a story of adultery. A love affair across the class divide. The wife of an aristocrat falls for a man on the lower rungs of society - a lowly gamekeeper. Why?. Lady Constance Chatterley finds her relationship with her husband, Lord Clifford Chatterley, both physically and emotionally bankrupt. Clifford is paralyzed from the waist down due to a war injury and his mental state is one of cold indifference and intellectual snobbery. Constance is neglected to the point of frustration but also pushed into producing the son necessary to carry on 'the family name'. Any aristocrat will do but; on meeting the very masculine, non intellectual, Oliver Mellors it's just a case of 'when' and not 'if'.Constance is empowered, awakened, and goes on to realise, through her affair with Oliver, that to find happiness she needs to be in a relationship that's complete; mind and body, and that's something her husband is unwilling and unable to give.At first the pregnancy is met by a mix of gossip and joy. The Chatterley name will continue. Only when the true identity of the father is revealed to be a member of the working classes does the world implode and Lady Chatterley is cast away to find her true love finally free from all she has grown to loathe.There's a lot of insight here and plenty of social commentary if you're happy to spend the time looking for it but; if you're reading 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' purely because of the smutty reputation it gained as a banned book during the 1970s you'll be disappointed.Lady Chatterly is not one of my favourite 'classics' but it has a lot to say about the times in which it was written. D H Lawrence makes cutting observations about the class structure, the treatment of women and the plight of the poor.

What a wordy book, you'll soon get to grips with some French terms, terms that are of its time in history and a few Saxon words!In today's society it's hard to see the scandal in the book, but easy to ascertain why it was so scandalous. Unfortunately the convoluted complex conversations are the worst part of the book - I just can't see how any couple (irrespective of class) would talk to each other in that way, it lost a lot of believability.

I'm old enough to remember the scandalous "Trial of Lady Chatterley" in or around 1960, when Penguin Books won the right to publish "Lady Chatterley's Lover" for sale to the general public. The bookshops (notably W H Smith's) were immediately piled high with the orange and white paperback, so that little else appeared to be on sale. Just afterwards I remember coming home from school to find my father (whom I had never known to read anything but the Daily Mirror) reading a paperback book encased in a brown paper cover! When asked what it was, he looked very sheepish and put it away hurriedly without comment! At around the same time an old lady in the village advised some of us pre-pubescent girls not to read it as it would "put you off getting married"! I very much doubt whether she had read it herself!Despite more than 50 years having elapsed since its release to the public, I'd never bothered to read it. However, I noticed it when browsing the Kindle Store and downloaded it out of curiosity, only to find it to be one of the most beautiful, compelling and poignant love stories I have ever read. By today's standards the descriptions which caused all the furore are by no means shocking although, rather than the sex scenes, the descriptions of the class structure which existed in the early 20th century and the very liberal ideas on adultery and infidelity discussed by the "upper classes" would seem to be far more surprising.I'm glad that I didn't read the book when it first became available as I think I wouldn't have had the maturity to appreciate the beauty of the language or to understand the insight the story gives into an age and a class structure that doesn't exist in such a defined manner any more. I have found the book a joy to read and am glad that I've got round to reading it at last.