The Prussian Officer and Other Stories [Paperback]

D. H. Lawrence (Author), John Worthen (Editor), Brian Finney (Editor, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

His first published collection, these twelve stories were written between 1907 and 1914, during a crucial period of development for Lawrence from which he emerged a leading figure of the modernist movement. Reaching new levels of feeling and experience, these stories range from the tale of a Prussian officer who drives his orderly towards a bloody reckoning, to the strangely exotic elements of 'A Fragment of Stained Glass', and the divisions within society and conflicts of the heart that form the central themes of 'Daughters of a Vicar'. Interweaving individual lives, their happiness, failures and defeats, with the profound forces of nature, Lawrence has created stories of remarkable power and sensitivity. This Penguin edition reproduces the newly established Cambridge text, which is based on Lawrence's manuscripts, typescripts and corrected proofs.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

The Prussian Officer contains some of the greatest stories Lawrence ever wrote: 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', 'Daughters of the Vicar', 'The Prussian Officer', and 'The White Stocking'. This edition, based on Lawrence's manuscripts, typescripts and corrected proofs, is the first to remove the corruptions introduced by copyists, typists and printers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), English novelist, storywriter, critic, poet and painter, one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literature. Among his works, Sons and Lovers appeared in 1913, The Rainbow in 1915, Women In Love in 1920, and many others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Group (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140187804
• ISBN-13: 978-0140187809
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,011,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of stories, January 28, 2004

By 

John Forfar (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prussian Officer and Other Stories (Paperback)

The Prussian Officer is a well-written moving piece based on the emotional effects of conforming to military discipline. Attention to detail is superb. Other stories in this collection are of the same quality. I recommend this be added to your todo list.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lawrence in short form., September 6, 2004

By 

Diane Schirf - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prussian Officer and Other Stories (Paperback)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prussian Officer and Other Stories by D. H. Lawrence. Edited by John Worthen with an introduction and notes by Brian Finney. Recommended.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In The Prussian Officer and Other Stories, D. H. Lawrence explores in short story form the themes that dominate many of his best-known novels. "The Daughters of the Vicar," for example, echoes both Women in Love and Sons and Lovers, where one relationship is out of balance and the other shows some promise, and where a son is in near-complete subjection to his mother-even after her death. The question left unanswered at the end of "Daughters" is whether collier Alfred Durant will be any more successful at forming a lasting relationship with Louisa than artist Paul Morel was. The answer would seem to be "yes" since he and Louisa are to be married soon-although in the other stories, marriage does not mean a meaningful or lasting relationship has been achieved. It's up to reader speculation whether they will end up like the couple in "The White Stocking" or the couple in "The Odour of Chrysanthemums."

Lawrence's world is focused on dominance and subjection, whether sexual, social, or economic, and the resulting imbalances. For all their social loftiness, the vicar's family is as poor or poorer than the uneducated colliers whom coal mining (ironically) elevates economically if not socially. As in the mines, there is a going down and coming up of the classes, with the declining rural gentry no better off than the rising class of miners and their managers. Lawrence experienced the mixing of these disparate groups in his own family, with his educated and domineering mother and his ignorant and brutal father. It's not difficult to find the origins of Elizabeth and Walter Bates in "The Odour of Chrysanthemums." In this story, Lawrence overtly articulates the alienation the wife feels from her husband, once death has given her the objective distance to realise it.

While compelling, this story demonstrates what I believe is Lawrence's predominant weakness-a heavy handedness of the author's voice in the narration of thought. Across all the stories (and the novels), his characters have similar thoughts and reactions, often expressed in similar terms that seem unlikely and unnatural for those particular characters. In many cases, you could lift entire sentences and even passages with little revision and transplant them seamlessly into any of his other stories or novels. While most critics, better informed than I about Lawrence's social and cultural milieu and his artistic intent, understand this as part of his "metaphysic," I find it artificial and tiresome. Reading so many stories together in a compressed time period highlights their similarities in theme, tone, and point of view.

As an example, this passage sounds less like the voice of the wife of a dead collier and than that of Lawrence himself: "There were the children-but the children belonged to life. This dead man had nothing to do with them. He and she were only channels through which life had flowed to issue in the children." At a certain level, many of Lawrence's characters have no voice that is recognizable as their own-only as his. They are in subjugation to his dominance, which burdens and overwhelms this collection.

Two stories that stand out are set in the military: "The Prussian Officer" (originally "Honour and Arms") and "The Thorn in the Flesh." In the former, a young orderly revenges himself on his rigid and sexually sadistic captain, then dies blindly to restore the balance. In the latter, the runaway soldier and his country servant girlfriend find spiritual elevation and detachment from their mundane concerns in their sexual unification. They are free to face the repercussions of their respective transgressions with indifference. "A Fragment of Stained Glass" is memorable for its medieval setting, sadism, and eeriness, but is flawed by a particularly weak ending that adds nothing and detracts from the tale's previous tone.

The Prussian Officer and Other Stories is a must for anyone interested in Lawrence and his development. Most of these stories are unforgettable, partly because of their symbolism and partly because they integrate pieces of Lawrence's overarching metaphysic. As a side note, my favourite Lawrence story-indeed, one of my favourite short stories by any author-is not part of this collection: the haunting "The Rocking-Horse Winner."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 September 2004.
Diane L. Schirf.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection of Stories, October 4, 2004

By 

Diaspora Chic "diaspora_chic" (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prussian Officer and Other Stories (Paperback)

The collection of short stories I read in "The Prussian Officer and Other Stories" were a good selection of what life was like in Nottingham, where the author was born. D.H. Lawrence's pieces like "Odour of the Chrysanthemums" and "The Daughters of the Vicar" reflect on his childhood and the city he lived in. The reader has that feeling that reminds them of their town and the people that lived there. The people in his stories have some influence on what their lives were like.
I read some of the pieces in class and actually found myself immersed into them. The use of dialogue, details of the countryside, and the tensions between class, gender, and sexuality. Reading these pieces I grew to appreciate literature and its structure.