D.H. Lawrence finished "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in 1928, but it was not published in an uncensored version until 1960. Many contemporary critics of D.H. Lawrence viewed the Victorian love story as vulgar, and even pornographic. It was banned immediately upon publication in both the UK and the US. The obscenity trials which followed established legal precedents for literature which still endure. At the heart, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is a story about the invisible bonds between lovers, companions, and husbands and wives. Against this backdrop, Lawrence also explores the relationship between physical desire and spiritual fulfillment, often using sensual and explicitly sexual language. This special edition of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" has been restored for a modern audience, including all previously censored material.
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Excerpt from Lady Chatterley's Lover - Restored Modern Edition
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
He went down again into the darkness and seclusion of the wood. But he knew that the seclusion of the wood was illusory. The industrial noises broke the solitude, the sharp lights, though unseen, mocked it. A man could no longer be private and withdrawn. The world allows no hermits. And now he had taken the woman, and brought on himself a new cycle of pain and doom. For he knew by experience what it meant.
It was not woman's fault, nor even love's fault, nor the fault of sex. The fault lay there, out there, in those evil electric lights and diabolical rattlings of engines. There, in the world of the mechanical greedy, greedy mechanism and mechanized greed, sparkling with lights and gushing hot metal and roaring with traffic, there lay the vast evil thing, ready to destroy whatever did not conform. Soon it would destroy the wood, and the bluebells would spring no more. All vulnerable things must perish under the rolling and running of iron.
He thought with infinite tenderness of the woman. Poor forlorn thing, she was nicer than she knew, and oh! so much too nice for the tough lot she was in contact with. Poor thing, she too had some of the vulnerability of the wild hyacinths, she wasn't all tough rubber-goods and platinum, like the modern girl. And they would do her in! As sure as life, they would do her in, as they do in all naturally tender life. Tender! Somewhere she was tender, tender with a tenderness of the growing hyacinths, something that has gone out of the celluloid women of today. But he would protect her with his heart for a little while. For a little while, before the insentient iron world and the Mammon of mechanized greed did them both in, her as well as him.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I know the type of reputation this book has. I was wondering how "shocking" it would be to a modern liberal girl. To be honest, it wasn't that shocking but it was unexpectedly moving and thought-provoking.
It takes quite a long while to wind up to the point, but that's because the author is taking the time to set up how a good woman could, in essence, cheat on her invalid husband. He wants these people to be real. He also spends quite a bit of time with philosophical conversations between characters, as well as in their heads. The amazing part is that - in a book most people read for the naughty reputation - those conversations only create an intellectual itch, leaving much of the topics unexplored and asking for more thought on the reader's part. There's a lot more depth here than is generally credited.
There are some stylistic things that were kind of jarring to me, such as his repetition of phrases and words, but I think that may have been his purpose, sort of rhythmic incantations almost.
I have to admit too that I'm a bit of a geek; I actually read book introductions. This one was especially good; I was looking forward to reading the book even more than I had been going in. I think I got a lot more out of the book, having had certain things pointed out to me to keep in mind as I read. If you're looking for an edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover, the introduction really sets this one apart.
It takes quite a long while to wind up to the point, but that's because the author is taking the time to set up how a good woman could, in essence, cheat on her invalid husband. He wants these people to be real. He also spends quite a bit of time with philosophical conversations between characters, as well as in their heads. The amazing part is that - in a book most people read for the naughty reputation - those conversations only create an intellectual itch, leaving much of the topics unexplored and asking for more thought on the reader's part. There's a lot more depth here than is generally credited.
There are some stylistic things that were kind of jarring to me, such as his repetition of phrases and words, but I think that may have been his purpose, sort of rhythmic incantations almost.
I have to admit too that I'm a bit of a geek; I actually read book introductions. This one was especially good; I was looking forward to reading the book even more than I had been going in. I think I got a lot more out of the book, having had certain things pointed out to me to keep in mind as I read. If you're looking for an edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover, the introduction really sets this one apart.
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By Don Diego
Format:Paperback
This particular edition: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence - Restored Modern Edition; is remarkable on at least two counts.
First, it is an authentic reprint of the book D.H. Lawrence intended to publish and not an "edited edition" designed to protect the reader from "coarse language" or "unnecessary lewdness." It is a faithful copy of the original work that displays Lawrence's full command of the English language.
Second, this edition contains an insightful introduction by Laura Bonds that presents Lady Chatterley's Lover as the classic literature that it certainly is. This introduction discusses Lady Chatterley in a rational, honest and informed manner. It does more than just orient the reader, or fill a few pages at the beginning of the book, it quietly illuminates why D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley is considered to be great literature.
Of the various editions of Lady Chatterley's Lover, this one is the "real McCoy." It is well worth reading, again.
First, it is an authentic reprint of the book D.H. Lawrence intended to publish and not an "edited edition" designed to protect the reader from "coarse language" or "unnecessary lewdness." It is a faithful copy of the original work that displays Lawrence's full command of the English language.
Second, this edition contains an insightful introduction by Laura Bonds that presents Lady Chatterley's Lover as the classic literature that it certainly is. This introduction discusses Lady Chatterley in a rational, honest and informed manner. It does more than just orient the reader, or fill a few pages at the beginning of the book, it quietly illuminates why D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley is considered to be great literature.
Of the various editions of Lady Chatterley's Lover, this one is the "real McCoy." It is well worth reading, again.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Ian Hunter
Format:Paperback
The book's reputation needs no comment. The book's importance is that having been challenged in the English court, it was found to be worthy of artistic expression and therefore, the challenge to its publication failed; a triumph in itself. The story oscillates between suppressed desire and eventual fulfilment. The 'interesting parts' are just that. More significantly though, these parts are expressed not only explicitly at times but also, through the eyes of the Lover who is deeply in love. Any student of sensuality should start here.
Ian Hunter.
Author of `e-Love'.
Ian Hunter.
Author of `e-Love'.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Remembering it differently
I do like the book...and find that our lives have now changed so much since then and that all the intellectual
discussion seems very old. Read more
discussion seems very old. Read more
Published 5 months ago by carmelinasma
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless Classic
Forget 50 Shades of Gray - this book is the original and the best novel ever written about seduction. A must have for those who love romance novels!
Published 5 months ago by D. Paul
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not so scandalous today - still a good novel about a passionate...
Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence was banned in the UK for about thirty years because it was considered lewd and rude and generally inappropriate. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Traxy
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Book
This is the most daring work of one of the best and most influential writers of the 20th century. I first read it a few years after the unexpurgated version came out in the US... Read more
Published 21 months ago by David R. Ingham
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kindle Version is Great!
Several of my friends and I all have copies of this book and it is great! Our Kindle versions are perfect! Read more
Published 22 months ago by ardith marguleas
3.0 out of 5 stars
A misanthropic (rather than anthropologic) exploration of love
Am choking down my respect for D.H. Lawrence and my fear of being flamed by fellow English majors everywhere in order to go public with my honest but politically incorrect... Read more
Published on May 1, 2011 by Jeanette Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lawrence vents his anger on the upper classes
This is a book that I think Lawrence always wanted to write, so much so that it was his last ever novel. Read more
Published on March 28, 2011 by Teddy Ludford
5.0 out of 5 stars
nice restoration
I bought this book to read with friends and haven't finished it yet, but am enjoying it. DH Lawence is an excellent story teller; a favorite of mine since high school. Read more
Published on March 16, 2011 by L. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
An English classic about sexual desire
Lady Chatterley's lover is a novel that stares life smack between the eyes. D.H. Lawrence was a writer who had the rare and remarkable gift of taking reality and shaking it up so... Read more
Published on March 12, 2011 by Sirin
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic
I purchased this book for Book Club. The allure, I suppose, was finding out why this book got banned in the first place. Read more
Published on February 23, 2011 by E. Stanford
