Pamela M
asked:
Can I go back and read Rainbow after reading Women in Love. I didn't realize that Women In Love was a sequel. I checked WIL out from my local library and also found audio book for WIL on youtube. I listen to the audio narration while I read the hard copy. Makes it move along a little more for me and catch symbolic meanings. Like me, does anyone else find a little of Birkin in oneself?
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Laura
Actually, reading Women in Love first would be the way original audiences got the story because The Rainbow was banned. Lawrence couldn't find a publisher for Women in Love until 1920, and even then he could only publish it in the US. (British publishers wouldn't touch it after The Rainbow debacle.) In addition, the two books aren't really sequels in the way we think of sequels today. They're more like two stories that have some of the same characters. So, I say go for it!
Cecily
Yes, DO! The Rainbow is the most wonderfully poetic book - if you like to immerse yourself in floral, fiery, watery imagery.
I read them in chronological order, but I actually preferred The Rainbow, so WiL was a very slight disappointment in comparison.
Reading them in reverse would not be very different from a story that starts in one period, then tells the main story in flashback.
The Rainbow covers three generations of Brangwens, of which Ursula is the third, so you see her as a child and teenager at the end of the book, as well as learning about her parents and grandparents. Despite that, it's more impressionistic at times, than the more plot-driven WiL.
Enjoy.
I read them in chronological order, but I actually preferred The Rainbow, so WiL was a very slight disappointment in comparison.
Reading them in reverse would not be very different from a story that starts in one period, then tells the main story in flashback.
The Rainbow covers three generations of Brangwens, of which Ursula is the third, so you see her as a child and teenager at the end of the book, as well as learning about her parents and grandparents. Despite that, it's more impressionistic at times, than the more plot-driven WiL.
Enjoy.
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