Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780802130686
ISBN: 0802130682
Label: Grove Weidenfeld
Manufacturer: Grove Weidenfeld
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 1982-03
Publisher: Grove Weidenfeld
Sales Rank: 7336847
Studio: Grove Weidenfeld
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Here is Lawrence's most famous work as he originally wrote it, restored with scholarly diligence and including 'A Propos of Lady Chatterly's Lover,' Lawrence's final thoughts on the male-female relationship in the modern world.
Amazon.com Review:
Perhaps the most famous of Lawrence's novels, the 1928 Lady Chatterley's Lover is no longer distinguished for the once-shockingly explicit treatment of its subject matter--the adulterous affair between a sexually unfulfilled upper-class married woman and the game keeper who works for the estate owned by her wheelchaired husband. Now that we're used to reading about sex, and seeing it in the movies, it's apparent that the novel is memorable for better reasons: namely, that Lawrence was a masterful and lyrical writer, whose story takes us bodily into the world of its characters.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not shocking anymore, but dang good
A 'Novel' Guest Review By Leigh Wood
After one too many viewing's of the 1992 BBC production of Lady Chatterley, I finally broke down and read the book. I thought the 1928 unedited version of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence would be a tough book to find. Expensive, rare, old leather, smelly, buried in an antiquarian store-that type of book. Indeed I was very pleased to find the 1928 Unexpurgated Oriali Edition in paperback at my local Borders. $4.95!
I wrapped Mists of Avalon as quickly as possible and avoided watching the film before I plunged into Lover. I read other writers' criticisms on D.H. Lawrence and his works before purchasing the book, and I knew the book and movie didn't have the same ending. Of course, I also knew the book's controversial reputation and supposedly salacious use of naughty words and torrid sex talk. My edition opened with forwards and introductions detailing the book's tough road to publication and the aftermath of censorship. Although this story is fairly well known in literary circles, this introduction is informative, with details and facts on the books printing, pirated editions, and trial information. Even if one was a toe towards prudish, you can't not be interested in reading Lady Chatterley's Lover after these words of praise.
Although the 1992 adaptation by Ken Russell is quite faithful, Lawrence's work is naturally bigger and more detailed than what can be translated to the screen. I noticed many cases where ... Read More
Rating: - Still works
I have to admit I've missed this classic for too long. Still holds up and works for today's audience.
Rating: - Love in the Void
"Lady Chatterly's Lover" is one of the most (brutally) honest portrayals of love and intimacy in 20th century literature. Turning away from the flowery and the poetic sentiments of many other writers, Lawrence completely de-romanticizes romance and shows it as something visceral and almost beastial. Written during the span between the first and second World Wars, when industrialization and mechanization seemed to threaten the essence of humanity, Constance Chatterly can, I think, be seen as an Every-Wo/man character searching for intimacy in a society that was increasingly cold and cerebral. Is it possible to love someone when you are alienated from everyone around you? Can you feel passion when you are nothing more than a cog in the gears of some great machine? These are the central questions asked by Lawrence in this novel and of course they are still relevant today.
While "Chatterly" may not be considered Lawrence's best work, it is still a great book and definitely worth reading. Of course, this novel has flaws - notably the characterization of Mellors, and also the very abrupt ending - but Lawrence's beautiful language (minus the various 4 letter words that appear throughout the text) and his keen understanding of humanity make this work really great. Read this book and consider the romantic relationships in your life and I'm sure you will have a lot to think about.
Rating: - Incandescent. Perfect.
"She saw the clumsy breeches slipping down over the pure, delicate, white loins, the bones showing a little, and the sense of aloneness, of a creature purely alone, overwhelmed her. Perfect, white, solitary nudity of a creature that lives alone, and inwardly alone. And beyond that, a certain beauty of a pure creature. Not the stuff of beauty, not even the body of beauty, but a lambency, the warm, white flame of a single life, revealing itself in contours that one might touch: a body!"
Oh...my...God!!! Speechless, stunned, drooling, floored.
Rating:  - Mixed feelings on this one...
On the whole, I would say that this book is considered a classic mostly because of its legendary troubles with the censors. Don't get me wrong - it was an alright book, interesting enough to hold my attention for the most part. However, I don't think that I'll be recommending it any time soon.
First off, I agree with the other commenters about Lawrence's basic lack of knowledge about female anatomy. My god. It's as if there's nothing at all that Clifford could have done for Connie. And apparently Connie is (in Lawrence's eyes) the apex of womanhood because she's one of the (very) few who can reach climax without any clitoral stimulation. Jesus christ, this isn't a book about sex. It's a book about misinformation!
Aside from that, what do we have?
We have Connie, who's barely sympathetic as a protagonist. I'd put her somewhere between Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina on the sympathy scale. On the one hand, who can't sympathize with her situation? She's trapped in an essentially joyless life. On the other hand, she's also a terrible snob. Witness the way that she looks down on the people of Tevershall - "Oh, everything is good and beautiful in Ye Olde English Woode where I screw my husband's gamekeeper, but that dirty dirty little town with all those hunched-over people who work for a living... how disgusting!"
And then we've got Mellors, who, quite frankly, I found kinda annoying. Is it just me, or does he come off as somewhat mentally deficient? ... Read More
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