The Virgin and the Gipsy & Other Stories

by D.H. Lawrence

With an Introduction and Notes by Jeff Wallace, University of Glamorgan.

These stories of myth and resurrection, of uncanny events and violent impulse, were with one exception written and published in the latter half of the 1920s, coinciding with the composition of Lawrence's controversial masterpiece Lady Chatterley's Lover.

At this time Lawrence declared himself to be 'really awful sick of writing'; yet here we find some of his most beautiful, hauntingly melancholy fictions. In struggling to escape from their thwarted lives and to achieve human 'tenderness', the characters embody and continue the major preoccupations of Lawrence's work as a whole.

Love Among the Haystacks provides an early illustration of the intensity and innovation which made Lawrence one of the most distinctive and important of twentieth-century writers.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Literature, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Novels

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct.

Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...

Reviews

[Petra in beautiful green mountainous Armenia now · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real, wild bodice-ripper of a book, but much better written because D.H. Lawrence whether he was writing his deep, intense novels or frippery like this, wrote really well. I don't like romances much but this one was quite good, if a bit silly and unlikely, but then that is often the point of romance books anyway. In this case, because the book is so old and it does read in a dated way too, it could be excused by saying it was 'of its day'.

[Allison Goldstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can someone tell me why DH Lawerence is so well loved as a fiction writer? I am speaking strictly on fiction here as I have not read enough of his poetry to comment on that genre. At this point I've read Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterly's Lover, and now The Virgin and the Gypsy and I just get mad trying to figure out why people think these books are good. He doesn't really know anything about women, his writing is not "sexy", provokative, endearing, illuminating, or any other emotionally loaded adjective that seems to get associated with his books. In fact, I'm pretty sure he hates women, and while his actual writing style isn't bad per sey, his storytelling ability is far from thrilling, his characters are poorly designed, and his ideas about relationships (while possibly historically defendable)leave me without the slightest inclination to care about these people one way or the other. I don't care if they stay together or break apart or burn in hell, they are awful (and I'm not talking morally). I have now officially given up. I will perhaps in the future start reading his poetry out of my own sheer curiousity, but as for fiction I am done. I know this isn't exactly a review of the book, The Virgin and The Gypsy, but here's some advice-- save yourself three hours (it's a short book, only about 120 pages) and read something COMPELLING or at least something with a story. This book was boring as hell, had no story, the characters were wooden and unimaginative, and I wish that damn flood at the end killed ALL OF THEM including the author for making me sit through 3 hours of bad writing.

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a bit of Lawrence now and he has certain themes that are his strengths. It's a sort of pagan world view revolving around nature, fertility, sex and a sort of "life impulse" that impels people to embrace the world and the realities of life with happiness despite the hardships.
It is a completely pagan world view of course, Lawrence had almost no trace of the Christian mindset in him and the near-worship of fecundity, sex and love would be anathema to a devout Christian.
These short stories are not as good as his best novels (The Rainbow and Lady Chatterly's Lover in my opinion) but they are well written and showcase Lawrence's considerable talents.
If you're new to Lawrence don't start here but if you've already read some of his work and it resonated with you then this is in a similar vein.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book. This is for any woman who has had to curb her natural urge to go against the grain.

[Vanessa Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lawrence's short stories are always interesting and often brilliant when he doesn't load the plot with a lot of clumsy polemic. This is one of his more entertaining ones and has all his characteristic hallmarks. The theme of an Anglican clergyman strangling nascent sensuality and an earthy, untutored gypsy bringing it back to life is one that is threaded through all his work. In this story and in these characters he has found the perfect expression of it, which is probably why it is so famous. It is less sensational than the title suggests. It is more subtle, and, in my view, more successful than Lady Chatterley's Lover. But, of course, it is very lightweight compared to the stunning achievement of his longer novels, particularly The Rainbow and Women in Love.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

D.H. Lawrence can kiss my ass!

[Bern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great nowel taking into account the time it was written. All creative flashbacks contributed to the story..

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am such a sucker for DH Lawrence. I don’t know why. Other than Kundera he’s probably my all-time favourite novelist. I pretty much consider his writing perfect— maybe not objectively the best, I don’t know anything about that, but the best for me. Like, if I could design my perfect writer, that would be Lawrence.

He combines the dark symbolism of Poe with the melodramatic emotions and gusty depth of Emily Bronte. Like both of those writers, he also writes worlds that have such surreal symmetry and unrealistic aptness that they could almost be considered magical realism but not… not quite, somehow. Basically he draws the innate weirdness and coincidences and magic of the real world and magnifies them to remind us they’re there. I love the dazed, dreamy absurdity of his characters. The absolute paradox of all of them.

The Virgin and the Gypsy is no exception- perfect writing, perfect characterization, perfect plot. I absolutely did not expect that ending. Totally satisfying, in a way, but also appropriately incomplete.

[Gea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this story years ago, one day in a small colonial town in Uruguay. The setting along with the story gave me the impression of being suspended in a dream. I loved this story, simple though it is, and thought it romantic and full of erotic yearning. Like Lady Chatterly's Lover, Lawrence seems to be fascinated with the idea of a woman falling in love with someone far below her station. Can she chose a life with this person, and what kind of life would that be if she is ostracized from her own community? I think this is a fascinating theme and enjoy the repressed and restrained desire in both of these stories.

[Everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

At this point in his career, he was living under the radar after his previous novels caused quite a few stirs with their scandalous presentations of never-before-published four letter words and graphically sexual scenes. This novel has little to thrust a curious eyebrow to the modern reader, but still raises some interesting topics such as love, class, youth, and ennui, that should be able to hold your attention for a book that I read in one sitting. The ending is appealingly quite unexpected.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little gem of a story by the always delightfully debauched Lawrence. He really lets his anger and frustration at the general repression of his sexual urges as dictated by society seethe in this one, one of the last things he wrote I believe. And there's the usual dichotomy between society/authority and nature/desire, but laid out very concisely. If you need a jumping off point for Lady Chatterly's Lover/Lawrence this is a good novella to start with.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was going to be a solid 4 stars until I came to the last two stories of the collection, The Man Who Loved Islands and The Man Who Died. Both are about being at peace along, rather than settling for less in an attempt to escape lonliness, and they just spoke to my soul at the moment... Hopefully in the future I'll feel the same about other stories, as these two just reached into me, I loved them.

[Viktor · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole, I'm very impressed with the story, but I can't help feeling that the ending could have been more revealing. There's lots of mystery around the gypsy's character that I'd like to hear more about.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the title story and one other and then chucked it. The story wasn't to my liking anyway but I was really bothered that it seemed like a first draft. So many times he said something one way and then the very next sentence re-worked how he said it using many of the same words. It just seemed like something a writer would do in a first draft. I would have read this in a writing class maybe I could appreciate his methods, but I was expecting a finely crafted short story and I didn't feel this was it.

I tried Love Among the Haystacks, but... bleh.

Read on vacation north of Taos, near the the DH Lawrence cabin / gravesite. Saved me a trip there :-(.

[Pamela Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read just after leaving school as my interest had been raised with studying one of his other books. I did enjoy reading them and then in later life hearing about the man himself from an elderly lady who were friends with the man and she grew up with him in and out of their home. Her stories gave me more of a feel for his writing which at times I did wonder why some of the scenes were there.

[Lena Riemersma · Rating 3 out of 5]

After an innocuous vain virgin allows her mind to be seduced by a handsome gypsy she is no longer content with her comfortable moral life. After the author's death, this novel was discovered and published with its unrevised imperfections.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories and novellas. I liked the titular story more than any of the others, all written in Lawrence's particular style.

[Evelyn Schenck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un embole. Todos los cuentos iguales. Pretencioso. Tiene un puñadito de palabras "raras" que repite en cada cuento. Préstamos del francés sumamente innecesarios.

[Sam Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

there is a timeless quality to the writing despite its grand old age.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine introduction to the works of D.H Lawrence

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cuma satu cerita yang mending menurutku ( The Rocking Horse Winner). Cerita lainnya benar2 membuang waktu. Sepertinya hampir semua tokoh cowonya takut dengan komitmen..

[AnnieHil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked these best: The Virgin and the Gipsy, The Lovely Lady, The Rocking Horse Winner, and The Man Who Died.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really not his best work.

[whyfloat]

Favorites:
1. The Virgin and The Gypsy
2. The Man Who Died
3. Love Among The Haystacks

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This rating is based on the title story "The Virgin and the Gipsy" which I found an enthralling read. Great characterisation, and very evocative descriptions. I was less keen on the other stories collected here, such as "Rawdon's Roof" and "The Escaped Cock."

[Геллее Салахов Авбакар · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure:
The Collection of the Virgin and the Gypsy, have been among my best collection of Short stories. I bough them with audio Cd's. I own a eBook version too.

My Plot:
The Story focus on a Small vicar family which contains a Father and two daughters in addition to an old blind woman and a spiteful aunt. The whole family moves from the south of England to a Vicarage in the Middle of Britain. the two Daughters Yvette and Lucile, were fighting against the gloom that start to dominate their life. The Two Daughter begin to make friends and have relations with other persons. During a trip organized with some friends, Yvette encounters a Gypsy and his family, This meeting change the whole way for Yvette who felt a kind of Spiritual attachment, She fall in love with a Jewish woman, who had been left by her Husband. Yvette Father's discover these surpasses, and Threat Yvette in an Asylum. During a sudden flood, the Grandmother had been drown, and the free spirited Gypsy came to rescue Yvette from the Flood.

Positive and Negative Aspects:
The main beautiful aspect of the story was the simplicity of the events, and the smoothness of the narration techniques, the nature of the plot was very simple, it was somehow meant to be read by small children, like the Snow White and the seven Gypsies. but the main objective of the story was the enjoyment. It was far from the complicated style of D.H. Lawrence and his philosophical depression. Negatives were not stated at all. that's why I rated it with five stars.

My Personal Reaction:
Personally, I enjoy reading this story, It was short and simple the characters were not complicated and the Author's touch was smooth. Besides, the imaginative touch was wide and acknowledged. It was really a fine work in the history of D.H. Lawrence. Generally the story worth being reread one again.

Recommendations:
I would recommend this story for the persons who want to explore the simplicity and the nice style of D.H. Lawrence far more from the complexity of Industrialization and Human nature. the Story is simple and could be read to all audience at any age.

[Catherine Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

'A Remarkable Writer'

I began reading this book some time ago and read the stories in the order in which they appealed to me. I've written a separate review of 'Love Among the Haystacks,' which was the first story I read from the collection.

What's really striking about this book is the diversity of the stories. I don't think these stories were ever published as a collection in Lawrence's lifetime and I couldn't help but wonder how he would feel about them being presented as a collection. But for any writer of short fiction, this is a great book because it illustrates the breadth of possibility of the short story.

Technically, the story 'The Virgin and the Gipsy' is a novella in itself. What's prominent is the characterisation - a middle-class English family who generally loathe one another. It's Lawrence's social observation at its most painfully acute. Shorter stories in this same vein are 'The Lovely Lady' and 'Rawdon's Roof,' the latter of which I found very funny.

But 'Rawdon's Roof' is tending towards the other aspect of Lawrence's writing apparent in this collection: short stories that are more like fables or even parables. Of this category, 'The Rocking-Horse Winner' was by far, I thought, the most striking, both in its concept and in the intensity of the writing.

I was very aware reading the collection that the stories with morals behind them really do read like biblical passages ('The Man Who Loved Islands' definitely had an other-worldly quality about it). Not surprising then that, 'The Man Who Died,' the final story in the book, is a re-working of the Resurrection. There's a massive contrast between this and 'Love Among the Haystacks.'

If you, like me, have read and enjoyed Lawrence's novels, I would recommend checking out his short stories too - they will remind you what a remarkable writer he is.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

"And he ... was aware of one thing only, the mysterious fruit of her virginity, her perfect tenderness in the body. (...) The waking sleep of her full-opened virginity, entranced like a snowdrop in the sunshine, was upon her. (...) The childlike, sleep-waking eyes of her moment of perfect virginity looked into his, unseeing. She was only aware of the dark, strange effluence of him bathing her limbs, washing her at last purely will-less. She was aware of him, as a dark, complete power."

The Virgin and the Gipsy er historien om en jomfru, der jomfruer jomfrueligt rundt i sin jomfruelighed, og møder en mørk, mystisk, og mørk, sigøjner. Det er simpelthen for meget. Jeg ville ønske det var satire, men det er det ikke. Hvis du nu ikke i forvejen er begejstret for D.H. Lawrence, så er det jo let nok at affeje det her som en Familie Journalen-føljeton, der ved en eller anden Kejserens nye Klæder-effekt har forvildet sig ind i Litteraturen, men jeg har ikke den luksus; jeg skulle hele tiden prøve at forsvare forfatteren. Jaaahmen, det er jo oprør mod seksualmoralen i et lille snerpet samfund osv, det er johh.. kødeligheden og driftslivet i konflikt med social og moralsk kontrol, ik? Men det er umuligt at bortforklare kioskroman-klicheerne - det hele er simpelthen ufrivilligt morsomt. Tag nu oversvømmelsen, der tvinger vores jomfru/sigøjner-duo til at omklamres, blive gennemblødte, tage tøjet af, og lægge sig i seng sammen, nøgne - en urimelig begivenhedskæde, som ikke blot er pinlig rent fortælleteknisk, men også et dovent lån fra The Mill on the Floss, hvor oversvømmelsen også var urimelig og fjollet.

The Virgin and the Gipsy er et gigantisk fejlskud, men giv ikke op, Lawrence er bedre end det her.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had absolutely no expectations from this collection of short stories, and now I have nearly no idea what to say about them. I wasn't disappointed by any of these tales, and feel like the last one ('The Woman Who Rode Away') was the most powerful. If I were any kind of decent reviewer, I'd go through each one of the stories and discuss them, but I just don't have that kind of time. I'll say that the persistent theme throughout all these unconnected pieces seemed to be the infeasibility of marriage. Whether it's a man or woman, someone ends up disappointed to some degree with the wedded life here. Maybe a bleaker outlook toward monogamy would help enjoy these stories, but they do stand well even without it.