James Baquet

    The next book on our list of the 20th century’s greatest novels is “Sons and Lovers,” by the English writer D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930).

    Published in 1913, it is one of his earliest works, and in early drafts was clearly autobiographical. It went through many revisions before taking its current form. The book is largely a portrait of Lawrence’s relationship to his mother, who died of cancer in 1910.

    Lawrence felt that his mother had married below her station, an element reflected in the novel by the relationship between Gertrude Morel, a “lady,” and her rough-hewn miner husband Walter. Walter’s social status is reflected in his speaking in dialect, a feature which can make the novel hard to read. Here is a sentence from Walter: “Nay, tha niver said thankyer for nowt i’ thy life, did ter?” (“No, you never said ‘thank you’ for anything in your life, did you?”)

    The protagonist of the story, though, is Gertrude’s son Paul Morel, the younger of two brothers and Lawrence’s surrogate. Because of their differences — and not least because Gertrude has to make do on Walter’s small salary — the couple drifts apart. Walter spends his free time at the local pub, and Gertrude turns her affection to her older son, William, who is almost unnaturally attached to his mother.

    But as a young man, William dies, and Gertrude now dotes on her second son, Paul. But he falls, first, for a local farm girl, and next, for a visiting “liberated” woman. However, due to the dominance of his mother, he is unable to successfully pursue other women. He returns to his mother, who then dies, leaving him utterly alone.

    The title, then, might have been “Gertrude’s Sons and their Lovers,” but as it is, it remains more ambiguous. In the Western tradition, Gertrude’s name reminds us of the mother of Hamlet, another character whose attachment to his mother prevents him from making progress. This in turn points back to the story of Oedipus, who inadvertently married his own mother, and lent his name to Freud’s “Oedipus complex.”

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. early, unfinished versions

    2. shows excessive fondness (for)

    3. having several interpretations

    4. accidentally

    5. position in relation to others

    6. freed from social standards

    7. image or written description of a person

    8. local form of a language

    9. not finished, here, with poor social skills

    10. in a lower social class