Sons and Lovers

D. H. Lawrence · 1913 · English

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What it is

In a Nottinghamshire mining village, the refined Gertrude Morel, trapped in a bitter marriage to a hard-drinking miner, pours her love and ambition into her sons. The second, Paul, a budding painter, grows up torn between his devotion to her and the women he tries to love: Miriam, an intense, spiritual farm girl, and Clara Dawes, a passionate woman separated from her husband.

Why it matters

Lawrence's autobiographical third novel, the first of his major works, brought working-class mining life and a son's consuming bond with his mother into the English novel with new frankness. Ninth on the Modern Library's list of the century's best novels in English, it is often counted his finest book.

Reading it

About 500 pages. Medium difficulty: it asks for steady attention, but stands on its own.

Where to buy

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Your notes

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Built on it
The Glass Menagerie · Tennessee Williams · 1944
As a young man Williams held D. H. Lawrence, who wrote Sons and Lovers, in the highest regard, and Wikidata lists Lawrence as one of his influences.
Wikipedia, Tennessee Williams, Literary influences; Wikidata, Q134262 (P737)

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