D.H. Lawrence, proper name David Herbert Lawrence, was born near Nottingham in what is now the UK on September 11, 1885 (University of Nottingham, 2006). He remains best known as a novelist, but he was also an accomplished poet, essayist, artist, and short-story writer (“David Herbert Lawrence,” 2014). Of all of his works, he was most famous (or infamous) for his novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was banned in several countries. In the United States, it remained banned until 1959 and it was banned in Britian until 1960. In both countries it took obscenity trials to lift the ban (Literary Corner Cafe, 2010). However, while he is best remembered for the sensational Lady Chatterley’s Lover, his semi-autobiographical novel Sons and Lovers is remembered as his best work (Literary Corner Cafe, 2010). Whatever particular work is associated with D.H. Lawrence, Biography.com writes that he is “widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century” (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014).
His first novel, The White Peacock, was written when he was a student teacher at the British School in his home town of Eastwood (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014). His poetry was his earliest success and only after it garnered attention did interest grow for his previously published first book (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014). Although D.H. Lawrence lived in the UK from time to time throughout his life he was widely traveled and lived in many countries, including a ranch in New Mexico, a cottage in Germany, Sri Lanka, Italy, Australia, Mexico, New York, and a sanatorium in France just prior to his death (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014; Literary Corner Cafe, 2010). He traveled extensively – his poem “The Mosquito” was most likely written in Sicily on the way to Malta (Sagar, 1979, p. 61). He contracted tuberculosis at some point in his travels and, although he repeatedly denied his disease to others and to himself, died in France in 1930 (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014). For a man with such an extensive list of publications, he was shockingly young. He authored 12 novels, 10 short story collections, nine volumes of letters, 11 poetry collections (a further four poetry collections have been published after his death), eight plays (not all published before his death), 12 works of nonfiction (again, not all published before his death), three travel books, six translations of works by other authors, and several paintings (“David Herbert Lawrence,” May 2014). His works would fill a small library but D.H. Lawrence was only 44 when he died (“David Herbert Lawrence, 2014). |