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* "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence (classic sex
novel) 10, 10, 10
* "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence This novel was first published in 1928 in a privately printed edition in Italy. I read it when I was in college, mostly because I heard it had been "banned in Boston." We've come a long way in erotic literature since then; but this is still an outstanding novel. As a rule of thumb, you should never pay any attention at all to an English teacher who admires "The Great Gatsby" and "Daisy Miller" but has never read "Lady Chatterly." Lady Chatterly is the wife of a British industrialist who has been paralyzed below the waist by war wounds. D.H. Lawrence was a symbolism nut (His most famous short story is "The Rocking-Horse Winner," which actually makes it into libraries and classrooms throughout the United States because the censors think it's about a kid who likes to ride horses); and Mr. Chatterly serves as a metaphor for upper-class impotence. Imagine that! They had that problem in England back in 1928! Constance (Lady) Chatterly finds fulfillment in a sexual union with Mellors, her husband's gamekeeper. This relationship expresses the author's belief in the health of physical life freed from social constraint. At the time he wrote the novel, Lawrence's descriptions of sexual activity were the most explicit, lyrical descriptions of sex outside the bible; and this, of course, led to his prosecution for obscenity in the United States, Britain, and Canada between 1959 and 1962. The preceding paragraph was adapted from a book report I wrote many years ago, and which received a grade of "A" in a Catholic college. Imagine that! The teacher was a priest! Imagine that! He must have liked my references to symbolism. He thought "Gatsby" and "Miller" sucked donkeys - although he used a different metaphor that was more common at that time. He's no longer a priest, but he is married to an ex-nun. Imagine that! I still see him occasionally; and he says that his only regret is that he didn't marry an ex- nun whose name was Sister John Thomas. {This is inside humor. There almost certainly have been several nuns in the United States with that name; and "Lady Chatterly" is the first place in print where I ever saw the male genitalia referred to as John Thomas.} Actually, there's a reasonable possibility that this former mentor might be lurking on a.s.s. and reading this review. If so, I trust he won't blow my cover. I also wish to apologize to anyone named Sister John Thomas who happens to read this review. I DON'T think "Lady Chatterly" is better than some of the other stories that I have reviewed for this newsgroup. Its appeal arises largely from its historical significance. On the other hand, it IS still a damned good story, as this excerpt will demonstrate. Anyway, if you have never read "Lady Chatterly," you should take this opportunity to sample Chapter 14 for free. Spectrum gets my Public Service Award for making this book readily available to the general public. Ratings for "Lady Chatterly's Lover" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 |