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Selected Tales
One of a series of top-quality fiction for schools, this selection of short stories offers an introduction to the longer and more difficult novels of D.H. Lawrence.
236 pages, Hardcover
Published July 9, 1981
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53 people want to read
About the author
D.H. Lawrence
2,272 books4,259 followersDavid 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 18, 2017
The book is nice - my one is pink with golden lettering and leaves rather than the blue and black shown in the picture. The two-page introduction is terrible, and there are no notes or anything. There should really be dates on the story headings, at least. But the selection and ordering of the 10 stories is excellent. And the stories themselves are so good, verging on sublime.
May 29, 2023
These stories deserve a slow read, one at a time.
Most of them share a setting in the coal mines that Lawrence knew from his childhood and the atmosphere is portrayed in a very realistic way which remind me of Caravaggio's paintings, dark but still full of detail.
I pick Odour of Chrysanthemums and Daughters of the Vicar as my favourites and as a representation of the whole set.
Most of them share a setting in the coal mines that Lawrence knew from his childhood and the atmosphere is portrayed in a very realistic way which remind me of Caravaggio's paintings, dark but still full of detail.
I pick Odour of Chrysanthemums and Daughters of the Vicar as my favourites and as a representation of the whole set.
May 28, 2012
I have just discovered a new favourite writer in D.H Lawrence. Admittedly, this book of short stories was a bit hit & miss - but despite not consistently spinning the most exciting of yarns, his words always seemed to move me. This collection of stories were often brutally honest – touching on emotions that most writers would shy away from – for instance, a woman who has no love for her children, another who is ashamed of her husband’s looks, and a third who cannot help but be attracted to her co-worker despite his womanising ways.
Mostly, I just loved his way with words - “Miss Stokes turned at last to Joe. She looked up at him, and in the moonlight he saw her faintly smiling. He felt maddened, but helpless. Her arm was round his waist, she drew him closely to her with a soft pressure that made all his bones rotten.”
I also loved that every story had a clearly defined moral. These often came across somewhat sardonically. In one story, a woman insists upon marrying for love, catechising her sister for her hurried wedding to a man deemed inferior. When she eventually finds her true love, she is cast out by her family who think that he is undeserving of her. i.e – you might as well settle ‘cause what’s perfect for you is seldom perfect for everyone.
My favourite tale in the collection ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’, tells the story of a little boy whose sole desire is to make his family ‘lucky’. In order to do so he places a series of bets on horse races, the winners of which come to him in ‘visions’ as he rides wildly upon his rocking horse. Things get out of hand and our ‘rocking horse winner’ ends up dead. Not particularly lucky. Lawrence’s stories are full of these grim contingencies – I will definitely be reading more.
Mostly, I just loved his way with words - “Miss Stokes turned at last to Joe. She looked up at him, and in the moonlight he saw her faintly smiling. He felt maddened, but helpless. Her arm was round his waist, she drew him closely to her with a soft pressure that made all his bones rotten.”
I also loved that every story had a clearly defined moral. These often came across somewhat sardonically. In one story, a woman insists upon marrying for love, catechising her sister for her hurried wedding to a man deemed inferior. When she eventually finds her true love, she is cast out by her family who think that he is undeserving of her. i.e – you might as well settle ‘cause what’s perfect for you is seldom perfect for everyone.
My favourite tale in the collection ‘The Rocking Horse Winner’, tells the story of a little boy whose sole desire is to make his family ‘lucky’. In order to do so he places a series of bets on horse races, the winners of which come to him in ‘visions’ as he rides wildly upon his rocking horse. Things get out of hand and our ‘rocking horse winner’ ends up dead. Not particularly lucky. Lawrence’s stories are full of these grim contingencies – I will definitely be reading more.
May 13, 2020
Trigger warning: mentions of rape, violence
D. H. Lawrence taught me a lot about hetersexuality and relationships as a child. They were always poetic, destructive, and really quite sad. The last story, "the princess" is apparently his most famous short-story. What gets to me about it is how each of the men in the life of Maria Henrietta Urquhart had coaxed her, molded her into a person she didn't truly want to be, but accepted. She went from being indoctrinated by a father with a queer perception of life that made him inaccessible and resentful of others, to realizing that she didn't need to feel the way he did when he died, to finally meeting yet another man that forced his own wants and will on her. This story seems the only one so far as I can see to recount rape, "the overtone" is more on the lines of coercion. But each story by this man has an uncanny way of showing us lives that beat almost like they were real. I think I enjoyed some stories more than others, such as "the rocking-horse winner". While this managed to keep me engaged there is something so disjointed and almost meaningless about his stories. As time goes one, you realize how disjointed your own reality is from the author, how, when he recounts rape, he calls it "violent desire" but you know otherwise. There's always a conflict of desire and virtue, of civility in whiteness and the "uncivilized POC". A lot of the stories are derivative of his life, his father being a coal miner, so with those nuances in mind, you can tell he has an ingenious imagination.
D. H. Lawrence taught me a lot about hetersexuality and relationships as a child. They were always poetic, destructive, and really quite sad. The last story, "the princess" is apparently his most famous short-story. What gets to me about it is how each of the men in the life of Maria Henrietta Urquhart had coaxed her, molded her into a person she didn't truly want to be, but accepted. She went from being indoctrinated by a father with a queer perception of life that made him inaccessible and resentful of others, to realizing that she didn't need to feel the way he did when he died, to finally meeting yet another man that forced his own wants and will on her. This story seems the only one so far as I can see to recount rape, "the overtone" is more on the lines of coercion. But each story by this man has an uncanny way of showing us lives that beat almost like they were real. I think I enjoyed some stories more than others, such as "the rocking-horse winner". While this managed to keep me engaged there is something so disjointed and almost meaningless about his stories. As time goes one, you realize how disjointed your own reality is from the author, how, when he recounts rape, he calls it "violent desire" but you know otherwise. There's always a conflict of desire and virtue, of civility in whiteness and the "uncivilized POC". A lot of the stories are derivative of his life, his father being a coal miner, so with those nuances in mind, you can tell he has an ingenious imagination.
January 13, 2016
The only other D H Lawrence book I have read is The Rainbow a few years ago which I don't remember enjoying! This is definitely an easier introduction to his work. However of 11 short stories, I felt that only the last and longest, Daughters of the Vicar, was a proper story with a proper conclusion. The others seemed to start as an interesting tale then finish without having really concluded.
December 2, 2019
Beautiful stories , unless you have a taste for abstraction, you may not appreciate them .
Lawrence bearing a acerbic critique of modernity / 19th century industrialization, most stories carry the flavour ..
Lawrence bearing a acerbic critique of modernity / 19th century industrialization, most stories carry the flavour ..
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews