WOMEN IN LOVE

Book Description
This novel tells of the relationship between two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun, who live in a Midland colliery town in the years before World WarI. Ursual falls in love with Birkin, and Gudrun has an intense but tragic affair with Gerald, the son of the local colliery owner.

Synopsis:
A powerful and engrossing tale of extremes and extremists, Women in Love (1920), follows the passionate relationships of Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen with their respective lovers, the ominous Gerald Crich and the charismatic but fragile Rupert Birkin. The abortive alliance between the two men and the couples' affairs are played out against the derangements of industrialism and the need to find new ways of living and better ways of dying. The introduction explores the impact on Lawrence of the violence of the First World War.

From Library Journal
The published editions of Women in Love , probably Lawrence's greatest novel, have always been remarkably corrupt due to a lengthy, complex process of revision and transcription, a threatened libel suit, and numerous unauthorized bowdlerizations. The editors of this new Cambridge Edition have labored scrupulously to produce an authoritative text. What emerges, if not dramatically different, is fresher and more immediate. The introduction provides a valuable history of the novel's composition, revision, publication, and reception, and though the elaborate textual apparatus is strictly for advanced students of bibliography, the notes are splendid. Lawrence's 1919 Foreword and two early discarded chapters are also included. The recovery of a modern classic.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Keith Cushman, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro

From AudioFile
The relationship of four lovers and their beliefs are examined against the brutal backdrop of a small mining town. Maureen O'Brien splendidly creates the tone and tension of each character, dramatically accentuating the novel's theme of the destructive nature of relationships. The narration proves equally expressive, and O'Brien's voice has an entrancing lilt which complements each phrase. Her sensitive, fluid performance reflects the evolving mood of the work. The reading transports the listener to the world of the text with graceful dignity which unlocks the power of this enlightened work. s.l.d.

The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novel by D.H. Lawrence, privately printed in 1920 and published commercially in 1921. Following the characters Lawrence had created for The Rainbow (1915), Women in Love examines the ill effects of industrialization on the human psyche, resolving that individual and collective rebirth is possible only through human intensity and passion. Women in Love contrasts the love affair of Rupert Birkin and Ursula Brangwen with that of Gudrun, Ursula's artistic sister, and Gerald Crich, a domineering industrialist. Birkin, an introspective misanthrope, struggles to reconcile his metaphysical drive for self-fulfillment with Ursula's practical view of sentimental passion. Their love affair and eventual marriage are set as a positive antithesis to the destructive relationship of Gudrun and Crich. The novel also explores the relationship between Birkin and Crich. According to critics, Birkin is a self-portrait of Lawrence, and Ursula represents Lawrence's wife, Frieda.

About Author
D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence was born in 1885 in Nottingham, England, where much of his fiction is set. His father was a miner but his mother, with whom Lawrence shared a strong bond, was determined that he should have a better life. He attended college and obtained a teaching certificate but ill health prevented him from teaching on a regular basis. His first published works were poems, but he is also remembered for his short stories, his travel writings, and his novels, the first of which, The White Peacock, was published in 1911. Because numerous obscenity charges were brought against Lawrence in England and also because he and his German-born wife, Frieda, were accused of acting as German spies during WWI, the Lawrences left England for good in 1919. Lawrence's major novels include Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), Women in Love (1920), Aaron's Rod (1922), The Plumed Serpent (1926), and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928). In 1928, while in Mexico, Lawrence was diagnosed with tuberculosis; he died in Vence, France, on March 2, 1930.

Book Dimension :
length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6