Class Distinction and Thwarted Love. 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. I first read this almost forty years ago, and I only thought of re-reading it recently, because I was not a big Lawrence fan, however I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of his writing.

Set in a grim town beset with coal-dust and smoke in Yorkshire, Mrs Morel, the mother-in-law from hell, who focuses all of her attention on her clever and artistic son Paul, dominates this novel. She marries a man who is somewhat beneath her when she is quite young, and when the book begins, her coal-miner husband realises that he is not good enough for this driven, ambitious woman who comes from a better class, and feels abandoned by her stifling 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 book was written, however. He manages to make you feel sympathetic with both parents, a difficult feat!

Paul, her sensitive, creative 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 in the bleak coal mining village, so he goes to work young, although doing well at his painting. Luckily, he enjoys the job.

Life becomes more enjoyable when he meets the spiritual, intelligent, well-read 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 seemingly scared of everything (including sex, most importantly) for Paul’s liking. He’s also afraid that she’ll smother him. Miriam is based on Lawrence’s first love, Jessie Chambers, who was extremely upset by his portrayal of her, probably because of her being described as intense and suffocating, and, most likely, scared of sex. She never spoke to him again, which was completely understandable, but perhaps taking it a bit far. I can certainly see how it could smart — and smart for a long, long time. 

Paul becomes torn between his passion for Clara, Miriam’s married suffragette friend, who has her eye on him from the beginning, even though she’s Miriam’s best friend, and Miriam. He really needs a mixture of both! Clara’s still attached to her awful husband, however, because she can control him. Clara’s an absolute bitch, in my opinion, and discusses how she hates Miriam’s ‘bloodhound quality’ with Mrs Morel, who agrees! She also has her eye on Paul as soon as she meets him, in spite of her friendship with Miriam. She is certainly not the best of friends for the naive and much more likeable Miriam. In fact, Miriam really is the most likeable character in the book.

Who will Paul choose? Does he want the manipulative, sly, bitchy, immoral Clara, or the sweet, spiritual, intelligent, lovely Miriam? 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.  Paul is dominated by his mother, self-absorbed, and doesn’t know what he wants, but it is a coming-of-age story, so he’s only a young adult. 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. He’s seemingly perfect for the times. I might read Women in Love next —if I can find the energy!

NB: Jesse didn’t become bitter in spite of Lawrence’s treatment of her. She remembered him fondly and wrote D.H. Lawrence: A Personal Record, her account of their romantic relationship. She destroyed the manuscript after their final break, however.

Would he have been better off with her than the unconventional, tempestuous Frieda? It’s an interesting question. Frieda does sound somewhat like the abominable Clara.