Customer Reviews

The Fox; The Captain's Doll; The Ladybird (Penguin Classics)

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I had to read this book for a literature class, and it was chosen to be our favorite by far. The discussions deepened from lesbians, co-dependancy, and control. Of the three main characters we actually found five. Each lady has a different personality depending on what name she is called by. We may be reaching but it was interesting backing it up with the text. If you enjoy D.H. Lawrence you will love this novella.

A classic collection of short stories by D H Lawrence, a true literary genius whose prose spans the ages. The Fox stands out as a rich descriptive tale of two women living on a farm whose compliment of animals are primarily female as well. A man shows up, hunting foxes and stirs sexual urges within the loveless women causing the women's sedate feminine environment to become heated and unstable. Lawrence, with a sparkling eye for detail and subtle nuance weaves a tale rich in allegory and sexual symbolism that captivates the reader while exposing the human instinctual animal by stripping away the cultural facade

These three novellas (each 70+/- pages) are packed with the detailed structure and depth Lawrence displayed in his masterwork novels. Each is in essence a concentrated variation of the more familiar works, exploring the interior emotions and spirits of the various characters in unconventional or transitory settings.

Though not difficult, these stories should be read slowly to appreciate everything Lawrence is conveying, from the spare dialogue, the reflected and projected emotions, the environment and related symbols, to the historical background and setting.

While each could be extended or more fully developed (which Lawrence himself did in revising "The Fox") there's plenty of value in the characters and plots as they are.

This short novel is one of my Lawrence favourites.

In it there are four characters, if you include the fox! The setting is a farm in England during the 1st World War. Jill Banford and Ellen March are two women in their late 20s, who run the farm without any male help. They are having a lesbian relationship. A fox disturbs their quiet existence by killing some of their hens. As March is the more masculine of the two she takes on the role of hunter, but finds she cannot kill the fox. He seems to have an animal, instinctual, male power over her.

A man, Henry Grenfield, arrives and quickly attends to all the things that need sorting on the farm. He is interested in March and soon arouses a similar interest in her for him. The rest of the story details the fight for Ellen between Jill and Henry. Henry, as part of this fight, kills the fox. This is presented by Lawrence in an almost mystical way, as Henry describes how his will and his desire will triumph over the fox's will and desire.

Reading, studying and then having the joy of sharing the work of Lawrence with young people, when I taught him at `A' Level has been one of the high points of my life.

In my own novel `A Song for Jo' Lawrence has an influence on the intellectual and emotional development of the two main characters, Jo and Chris, who are college students studying English. Other great literature from Keats, Emily Bronte and Shakespeare (and more) is worked into the narrative. It is a love story with a difference!

People of all ages and sex have enjoyed it.

It's available on Amazon - please follow the link.

A SONG FOR JO

Penguin is reissuing all of the D.H. Lawrence works in an attractive new format featuring hauntingly beautiful cover artistic works.

The first story is this slim volume is "The Fox" which has been made into a motion picture. It is the most famous of the stories.

The Fox deals with two young ladies named March and Banfield who live together on a scruffy dairy farm raising cattle and chickens. Their lives are bleak. It never becomes overt whether they are lesbians although they do sleep in the same room.

Into their lives comes a young soldier named Grenfel. His family once owned the old farm house in which the young ladies reside. Grenfel resembles a fox with his red hair and hunting ability. He slays the old fox who has been ravaging the hencoop. Grenfel swears love for March and turns the girl against the thin and ill Banfield. A tree is felled by Grenfel killing Banfield and leading to possible marriage with March. This is a complex triangle with Lawrence's close observation of nature and human psychology. It is subject to many interpretations. Without question the bleak story reflects the sadness and despair evident at the end of the Grreat War.

The Captain's Doll is another complex tale. A former German countess makes her living making dolls. She is in love with an English officer who is married with two children. One day Major Hepburn's foolish wife arrives from England. She believes he is having an affair with the German mistress' Hannele's business associate. The wife falls out of a window and is killed. Hepburn returns to England meeting Hannele years later at a German ski resort. Hannele plans to marry a fat and old Austrian. When she and Hepburn meet their fiery love is rekindled. They plan on marrying as the story ends. The major symbol is the Doll which has been fashioned by Hannele to look like Hepburn. She is a feminist who demands to be loved as an equal partner; he refuses to be a doll or object of adoration by any woman. When he discovers that the doll has been sold by Hennele they agree to wed. The image of the cold glacier and the wintry scenes are wasteland imagery. The characters seem to exist in a deadly dreamlike state. The war has blasted all hopes for the idyllic days of pre-1914 Europe. Lawrence's vision is a dark one. There is hope only in love and in the peace of death.

The Ladybird deals with a young aristocratic woman named Lady Daphne who becomes infatuated with a German officer prisoner of war named Count Dioys (he represents raw passion and love as did the Greek god Dionysus). Daphne's husband Basil is a POW. She has lost two brothers in the war and has given birth to a stillborn child. She visits Dioys who has given her a thimble representing his family. At the bottom of the thimble is a serpent and at the top a ladybird or ladybug. the snake of temptation and violent love invades the sterile hothouse soul of Daphne. She remains wed to Basil in her postwar life but saves the nights for passinate love for Dioys. He leaves England to return to his family but the promise of their eternal love abides.

In " The Captain's Doll" the reader experiences a relationship that is not well-accepted by society. The Captain Hepburn and his mistress Hannele. The love in an affair is not a twosided love, usually one person ends up giving themselves more than the other person involved. Hannele questions herself throughout her relationship with the Captain and the intergery of their love. He does not want to love her and all she wants to do is love him. The story is very easy to read and short. It is a great book and I truly recommend it.