I read Sons and Lovers when I was about 16 because it was like one of the top books on the modern library top 100 novels of the 20th century. Not bad, but far from great. I wrote him off for a few years as a dated blow hard.
A few years later I picked up The Rainbow in a used bookstore for no Particular reason. Ended up buying it. Turns out DH can actually write a stunning book after all. Women in Love is also great, but a death in the family affected my reading of it and I put the book down and haven’t managed to read anything by Lawrence since.
Sons and Lovers always loomed large for me, because it was a book that--over a period of fifteen years starting in college--I attempted to read and never got more than a third of the way through. It was the only book I took with me when I moved to Israel, back to Texas, to New York, and then to France. It went with me everywhere.
I finally finished it last year. I had the same impression as you. I enjoyed it, but it seemingly didn't stick with me the way a book such as Crossing to Safety did. And yet I still find myself referencing that book perhaps more than any other. I'm glad I finally made it through.
It’s been about 20 years since I’ve read it and I barely remember the plot. I do remember S&L being a slog. Give The Rainbow a shot one day. There is a reason why his name gets mentioned along with some of the greats. He was a bit of a horny old goat, though.
I only read <<Lady Chatterley's Lover>>. It was quite a vivid description of a form of love that is more primitive and instinctive to my taste. I never imagined one can put those feeling into words.
Any other recommendations in this similar style (from Lawrence or others)?
Nabokov? Just a shot in the dark... I would never read either, but likely Nabokov before Lawrence, because I have enjoyed other Russian writers... Chekov, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, I expect having completely unrelated subject and content. I'm simply not interested in reading stories about love, do not appreciate that every movie has a gratuitous love scene and thin subplot dedicated to it, though I have read all of Rilke's love letters, and I read Gibran's chapters on love, marriage, children and friendship many many times, and will continue to do so.
I did enjoy the article, like how Wilson writes, and am satisfied to learn I am in complete disagreement with Lawrence as Wilson has revealed him (e.g. Plato's dialogues are neither queer nor little.)
My Antonia is a stunner. It’s got that rural mysticism poetic marvel quality in spades which DHL reaches for. It’s hard focus is on nostalgia and the passing of time whereas DHL is all about the animal passions of humanity at odds with industrialization.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 32.0 ms ] threadA few years later I picked up The Rainbow in a used bookstore for no Particular reason. Ended up buying it. Turns out DH can actually write a stunning book after all. Women in Love is also great, but a death in the family affected my reading of it and I put the book down and haven’t managed to read anything by Lawrence since.
I finally finished it last year. I had the same impression as you. I enjoyed it, but it seemingly didn't stick with me the way a book such as Crossing to Safety did. And yet I still find myself referencing that book perhaps more than any other. I'm glad I finally made it through.
Any other recommendations in this similar style (from Lawrence or others)?
I did enjoy the article, like how Wilson writes, and am satisfied to learn I am in complete disagreement with Lawrence as Wilson has revealed him (e.g. Plato's dialogues are neither queer nor little.)