Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

 Exquisite writing, sharply delineated characterizations, beautiful descriptions of nature. What more could you want? They’re all there in Lawrence’s great novel of class-distinction, and thwarted love, Sons and Lovers.

Mrs Morel, the mother-in-law from hell, dominates this novel. Her coal miner husband has come to realise that he is not good enough for this driven, ambitious woman  and feels abandoned by her love for her children, so he gets drunk and beats her. It is arguable that Lawrence would have wanted readers to think that she provokes him at the time when this was written, however. He manages to make you feel sympathetic with both parents, a difficult feat!

Paul, her sensitive, artistic son, based heavily on the young D.H., watches his parent’s violent marriage, and has to face the tragic death of his brother. Although the family isn’t poor, times are still tough, and he has to go to work young, although he does well at his painting. Luckily, he enjoys the job.

Life becomes more enjoyable when he meets the spirital, intelligent Miriam, with whom he discusses books, art and music. ‘Mrs Morel had said that his and Miriam’s affair was like a fire fed on books - if there were no more books it would dry out’. His mother hates Miriam, scared that she’ll take him away from her, but Miriam’s too repressed and scared of everything (including sex, most importantly) for Paul’s liking. He’s afraid that she’ll smother him.

Paul becomes torn between his passion for Clara, Miriam’s married suffragette friend, and Miriam. He really needs a mixture of both! Clara’s still attached to her awful husband, however, because she can control him. She’s quite unlikeable and discusses how she hates Miriam’s ‘bloodhound quality’ with Mrs Morel, who agrees! Not the best of friends for the naive Miriam.

Who will Paul choose? Will he ever leave the depressing, parochial coal-mining village? 

The only books that Lawrence wrote that I used to like a long time ago were The Virgin and the Gypsy and Twilight in Italy, although Kangaroo was interesting because it was set in Australia. I still found him hard to read this time compared with Hardy, for example, and almost unremittingly miserable, although the descriptions of the English countryside are stunning. Also, Miriam is the only likeable main character. (I am happy about that, for my own reasons)! Paul is dominated by his mother, self-absorbed and doesn’t know what he wants but it is a coming-of-age story. Still, he’s pretty stupid at times, for example, when he wonders why his mother is upset about his bringing a married woman home!

Lawrence seems to be very much out of fashion, which is a pity. I might read Women in Love next —if I can find the energy!