A Mortal Coil & Other Stories

by D.H. Lawrence

For many of us DH Lawrence was a schoolboy hero. Who can forget sniggering in class at the mention of 'Women In Love' or 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'? Lawrence was a talented if nomadic writer whose novels were passionately received, suppressed at times and generally at odds with Establishment values. This of course did not deter him. At his death in 1930 at the young age of 44 he was more often thought of as a pornographer but in the ensuing years he has come to be more rightly regarded as one of the most imaginative writers these shores have produced. As well as his novels he was also a masterful poet (he wrote over 800 of them), a travel writer as well as an author of many classic short stories. Here we publish 'The Mortal Coil & Other Stories'. Once again Lawrence shows his hand as a brilliant writer. Delving into situations and peeling them back to reveal the inner heart.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

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

[James Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating collection of Lawrence's earliest published stories, my own favourite being Once, one of those brutally autobiographical slices of his and Frieda's life which he'd expand and intersperse into his novels. Once follows a more innocent, weaker story about the two of them walking in the Tyrol which is also interesting because it foreshadows Lawrence's later travel writing.
The whole book is worth reading for that - to see where everything which followed came from.
It's strange to read something as prosaic as the first few stories in the book; you spend the time trying to spot the writer we know so well. He pops up in a phrase or flourish but remains largely hidden behind the standard prose and structure of his day. Little by little, though, he emerges, and you can sense him enjoying and marvelling at the same things we do in his writing (or, if you hate or dislike him, the things which are characteristic of his writing).
This development, or emergence, of D.H. Lawrence The Writer is amusing and exciting to witness. His 'themes' are all there - men and women, miners, travel, the blood, the soul, life and death, meaningless and meaning, anger and attraction - emotion! - though he's not yet describing them in his own voice, from his own, truly held point of view. But little by little he emerges, blood rises and ebbs and throbs, humans burn with hatred and despise each other and long for each other in new and higher ways, and I was cheering him on as he followed these breakthroughs and glimmers and developed them, coming to the end of a few of the stories as he must have, thinking, "Ah! Now what have we got here?"
That Lawrence, love him or hate him, was on an artistic journey, within himself and on the planet, is something evident from his work and life. That these stories document the beginning of both of those journeys make this collection essential. Thinking of it now they remind me of Van Gogh's early letters: that same stumbling, groping, brave quest of a soul not only trying to be true to itself, and wanting to express that truth, but needing to find itself first.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening lines:
She stood motionless in the middle of the room, something tense in her reckless bearing. Her gown of reddish stuff fell silkily about her feet; she looked tall and splendid in the candlelight. Her dark-blond hair was gathered loosely in a fold on top of her head, her young, blossom-fresh face was lifted.

[Marysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read as you basically have to take a break after each story for recovery, nothing like dh lawrence to hammer home the beautiful hopelesslness of life and most of all of any attempt to communicate with the opposite sex.

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 3 out of 5]

An uneven group of stories that were uncollected from the earlier part of his life 'during his twenties.'

Many of these are thinly veiled autofictional stories, such as those from his Croydon teaching days. These aren't so good, except for 'The Witch A La Mode', which doesn't seem to be written much about despite its brilliance.

Before that set there is 'Adolf', 'Rex' and 'A Prelude'. The latter two can be ignored (although 'A Prelude' does depict an interesting Christmas tradition of folk plays). But 'Adolf' is excellent. Set in a Nottinghamshire household, the children adopt a rabbit named Adolf. The realist depiction of that household is fine but is found in many of his other stories. The real gem is the way the rabbit is written about. Lawrence, like the father in the story, seems to have some sort of way with animals. I know he has a set of poems about animals that is supposed to be great. This story also I think is used in 'Women In Love', though I haven't read that yet.

Others are from the early stages of his marriage with Frieda. The Chapel and Hay Hut story is quite interesting. In this book they have kept the ending that was meant to be erased. I think it's better with it. Another brilliant story was 'New Eve and Old Adam'. Again it's an autofictional, more on the fictional this time I think, story about him and Frieda. Their tumultuous relationship flows like blood. Here again is his 'religion of blood conciousness'.

The last two stories are different, shorter, versions of the novellas The Captain's Doll (The Mortal Coil) and The Ladybird (The Thimble). I thought 'The Thimble' was great but didn't like 'The Mortal Coil' so much.

I would suggest reading the stories that I've written of here and just ignoring the rest. Unless you're interested and familiar with his biography (Frances Wilson's book is great) those others aren't anything special. The ones I enjoyed however I thought were spectacular.

[Jake Berlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

lawrence writes from an interesting place that is not quite 19th century, yet not quite modern. his grasp of psychology -- and particularly the psychology of relationships -- is evident throughout.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some well-considered scenes and discussions.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Alex Joshua Michael]

brilliant work. enjoyed most of these quite a lot, the titular story especially.