Sons And Lovers

This is the first critical study of Sons and Lovers to engage with the new Cambridge edition, which prints for the first time the whole text that Lawrence wrote, restoring the sustantial cuts made by the first editor. Michael Black gives special attention to the genesis of the book—the writing and editing processes, where Jessie Chambers and then Edward Garnett made decisive interventions. He analyzes Sons and Lovers in detail, relates it to Lawrence's other works, and traces the history of its reception. Historical context and a guide to further reading are also provided.

This is the first critical study of Sons and Lovers to engage with the new Cambridge edition, which prints for the first time the whole text that Lawrence wrote.

New York Times Book Review

There is probably no phrase much more hackneyed than that of 'human document,' het it is the only one which at all describes this very unusual book. . . . Although this is a novel of over 500 closely printed pages the style is terse -- so terse that at times it produces an effect as of short, sharp hammer strokes. Yet it is flexible, too, as shown by its success in depicting varying shades of mood, in expressing those more intimate emotions which are so very nearly inexpressible. -- Book of the Century; New York Times review, September 1913

Pensive and insightful, D. H. Lawrence brought to his work a frankness that had been missing from early 20th-century fiction. Though novels such as Lady Chatterly's Lover, Sons and Lovers, and others incited controversy and censorship for their sexual content, Lawrence was not being prurient; he was simply trying to describe the world around him, in both his fiction and his many letters and essays.