"Women in Love" is widely regarded as D. H. Lawrence's greatest novel. The novel continues where: "The Rainbow" left off with the third generation of Brangwens: Ursula Brangwen, now a teacher at Beldover, a mining town in the Midlands, and her sister Gudrun, who has returned from art school in London. The focus of the novel is primarily on their relationships, Ursula's with Rupert Birkin, a school inspector, though he gives that up, and Gudrun's with Gerald Crich, an industrialist, and later with a sculptor, Loerke.

"Women in Love" is widely regarded as D. H. Lawrence's greatest novel. The novel continues where: "The Rainbow" left off with the third generation of Brangwens: Ursula Brangwen, now a teacher at Beldover, a mining town in the Midlands, and her sister Gudrun, who has returned from art school in London. The focus of the novel is primarily on their relationships, Ursula's with Rupert Birkin, a school inspector, though he gives that up, and Gudrun's with Gerald Crich, an industrialist, and later with a sculptor, Loerke.

D(avid) H(erbert) Lawrence (1885-1930) English novelist, story writer, critic, poet and painter, one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literature. Among his works are The White Peacock(1911), Sons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915) and Lady Chatterly's Lover, first published privately in Florence in 1928.

2007-04-27 "Not about Women, Not about being in Love"

Let us not be misled: this book isn't about Women, and certainly isn't about being in Love. This begs the question, of course, "What is WOMEN IN LOVE about?"

"Women in Love" is more complex and intense, than your average novel: it is, arguably, a difficult book, and yet a very rewarding read... The satisfaction of having bent your consciousness into the mental gymnastics of Lawrence's intricate imagery or having somehow, somewhat come close to probing the depths of Birkin's entirely abstract reflections, will be greater than any scruples regarding the length, plot (or lack thereof)that may discourage some readers.
Lawrence delves into the abyss of mankind trying to shake loose the old ideals, to find a new expression, a new style for what had previously (pre-WWI?) been inexpressible, if not inexistent. He reduces the ego to its fluctuating, water-like nature, as we follow the Brangwen Sisters' parallel Love affairs. Through the character of Birkin, Lawrence questions Morality, Humanity and Love, and manifests the paradoxical longing to see the annihilation of the corrupt world ("If only mankind should pass away... Mankind is a dead letter.") and yet be "Salvator Mundi." While Hermione, perhaps the most infuriating character, leads us into Prufrockian reflections of consciousness and spontaneity. ("Better be animals, mere animals, than this nothingness!")
My only reservation lies in the unfulfilling nature of the novel, yet perhaps, that is what Lawrence was going for. Moreover, I find it difficult to assert, with any certainty, whether there is, any hope of Salvation, in the light of the four major characters' fates. I indeed fear that Beldover be a waste land where "the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief," (The Waste Land) as Gudrun says: "Everything fails to materialise... it all withers in the bud."

I can only conclude that I highly reccomend this book-- although to be fair, I know I haven't even come close to uncovering its true depth. I believe that this "dissatisfaction" begs for a re-reading, and is a key element in the novel's "greatness" and claim as a classic. And while I ponder upon the implications of "If one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere," I shall leave the remainder of the world to "distil themselves in nitro-glycerine, out of very love."