Lawrence, D. H. (1885-1930), was an English writer known chiefly for his novels. His fiction shows deep concern for the complicated, often tortured relationships between men and women. Many of his works deal with people torn by the need for both love and independence.
David Herbert Lawrence was born on Sept. 11, 1885, in Eastwood, a coal-mining town in Nottinghamshire. His first major novel, Sons and Lovers (1913), describes his early life there. This novel, like most of Lawrence’s other works, criticizes social attitudes that he believed were filled with hypocrisy and self-deception. It urges men and women to follow their instincts and is highly critical of industrial society, which Lawrence thought separates people from their feelings.
Lawrence used experimental techniques and unconventional themes that made him one of the most controversial authors of his time. For example, his frank discussion of sexual passion shocked many readers, and some of his novels were considered obscene. Lawrence’s most famous novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), was banned from publication in the United States until 1944, when a shortened version appeared. The complete novel was not published in the United States until 1959.
Lawrence’s other novels include The Rainbow (1915), Women in Love (1920), and The Plumed Serpent (1926). A collection of his essays called Studies in Classic American Literature (1923) ranks as a classic of literary criticism. Lawrence wrote many short stories, including “The Captain’s Doll,” “The Fox,” “The Man Who Died,” “The Rocking Horse Winner,” and “The Virgin and the Gypsy.”
One of the handful of great English novelists who was also a major poet, Lawrence continually strove for an unorthodox poetic quality in his prose. His nervous, heated, rhapsodic style, which was always driven and sometimes overly repetitive, was one of his most original contributions to the art of fiction.
Lawrence suffered from tuberculosis and traveled widely in an effort to improve his health. He made several trips to Australia, Italy, and Mexico, and these journeys supplied the background for many of his works. He died on March 2, 1930.
