David Herbert Lawrence: Works & Controversy

“If there weren’t so many lies in the world . . . I wouldn’t write at all.” – D.H Lawrence

People will not argue when we counted D.H Lawrence as the most harmonious writer of all time back in the 20th century. He is one of the most influential writers because he was regarded as a cultural hero who is an intellectual up from the working class, a prophet against mechanized existence, and a champion of instinctual life.

However, unfortunately, controversy has arisen constantly, primarily because of the perceived explicit nature of his works. Lawrence is an English poet whose writing explores issues such as sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct.

“Recklessness is almost a man’s revenge on his woman. He feels he is not valued, so he will risk destroying himself to deprive her altogether.” – D.H Lawrence, Sons and lovers

Sons and Lovers is a 1913 novel, one of the most popular books by D.H Lawrence ever published. It talks about the story of a woman who has an unhappy marriage and accepts two of her sons as lovers one after the other. The characters focused more on what they felt rather than focus on the consequences of what they are doing. The main theme of the novel is called the Oedipus Complex because the story tells about the type of unhealthy relationship between mother and son and develops an unwholesome connection that allows Paul’s mother to manipulate and control his life.

“A woman has to live her life, or live to repent not having lived it.” ― D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

One work he is best known for and very controversial is Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Lawrence returned to Italy in 1927 because he suffered from tuberculosis. This creative writer still managed to express his art and wrote Lady Chatterley’s Lover, his best-known and most infamous novel. According to his biography, published in Italy in 1928, Lady Chatterley’s Lover explores in graphic detail the sexual relationship between an aristocratic lady and a working-class man. Due to its graphic content, the book was banned in the United States until 1959, and in England until 1960, when a jury found Penguin Books not guilty of violating Britain’s Obscene Publications Act and allowed the company to publish the book.

Some of D.H Lawrence’s notable works are novels such as The Rainbow, published in 1915, Women in Love, published in 1920, and John Thomas and Lady Jane, published in 1927. Short stories, Odour of Chrysanthemums, published in the English Review in July 1911, The Virgin and the Gypsy, published in 1930 and The Rocking-Horse Winner, published in July 1926.

Lawrence is such a fearless writer. It doesn’t matter how odd and sexual the content is, as long as the story expresses true emotions, tells real-life happenings, and explores beyond what we see. His works remind us that anything could happen and everything is possible.