In love

Author: Wu Zeqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: David Herbert Lawrence (1888–1930) was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, the fourth of five children. His father was a coal miner, and his mother was a middle-class woman. Lawrence had a very close relationship with his mother and passed away in 1911. A few weeks after her death, he published his first novel, Sons and Lovers. Lawrence had once been a teacher but his career ended in 1911 after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. In 1912, he fell in love with Frieda, the wife of a professor who had taught him modern languages, and they eloped to Germany. They returned to London and married in 1914. At that time, he earned a living by writing. In 1915 and 1916, he completed his two greatest works, The Rainbow and Women in Love. The Rainbow was banned, and no publisher was willing to publish Women in Love.
After World War I, Lawrence began seeking a more satisfying way of life that Western industrial civilization could not provide. He embarked on an expatriate life, traveling to places such as Sicily, Ceylon, Australia, and New Mexico. In 1925, Lawrence and his wife returned to Europe. In 1928, his last novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover, was banned. Lawrence died in Vence, France, near Nice, in 1932 at the age of 44.
Women in Love is considered by Lawrence to be his best work, telling the story of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun. These protagonists also appeared in The Rainbow. The sisters live in a coal mining town in central England but, for some reason, do not fit in with the local life. Ursula falls in love with the inspector Birkin (a reflection of Lawrence himself), while Gudrun becomes deeply involved with the son of a local mine owner, Gerald, but their relationship causes her distress and unease. The four people are caught in a struggle between emotion and reason. The novel also examines some social issues, such as class differences and the negative effects of the industrial era, which were concerns of Lawrence in his lifetime.