A Blast from the Past is a weekly meme where I intend to review book that I read in the past that has had some form of impact upon me, whether it be good or bad.I read DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover for the first-time last year, and I was totally knocked off my feet. I knew that at the time it was written there was a lot of controversy surrounding it however I only learnt that it was able to be published in the UK almost 40 years after it was written.
Now having read it, I totally understand that controversy. Even I was shocked at the books content, and I can assure everyone that it takes something shocking to shock me. It is the story Constance Reid, young and progressive and ready for life, who marries Clifford Chatterley, an English nobleman. The story charts her growth into a woman - she soon learns to despise her weak and ineffective husband for whom she cares, and she begins to explore her own inner self and sexuality. This eventually leads to an affair with the game keeper - and my is it a raunchy one.
Don't get me wrong, it's nothing like what Mills and Boon publish now - but we need to put this is context. This was first published in 1928!
Here is an example of what I'm talking about:
"...something in her quivered, and something in her spirit stiffened in resistance: stiffened from the terribly physical intimacy, and from the peculiar haste of his possession. And this time the sharp ecstasy of her own passion did not overcome her; she lay with her hands inert on his striving body, and do what she might, her spirit seemed to look on from the top of her head, and the butting of his haunches seemed ridiculous to her, and the sort of anxiety of his penis to come to its little evacuating crisis seemed farcical".That's not even the raunchiest part of the novel! I was constantly amazed whilst I read this book to think of someone writing this type of material back in the 1920's.
I really loved Connie - she was truly on a mission to discover herself. As you can see above, even when she is in the throes of physical passion, her mind is constantly working and thinking and evaluating herself and the world around her. She knows she isn't satisfied, but she wants to determine why that is, and who she is, so that she can reach some level of satisfaction with life. For Connie, this self-exploration has a lot to do with her sexuality, and I think that this is important, especially for the times back then when women were not supposed to be sexual beings.
I have done a little bit of research (although the research is from Wikipedia so take it with a grain of salt) and discovered that when the full novel was finally published in 1960, Penguin Publishing was taken to court under the new obscenity laws. One particular objection to the book was that it used the word 'cunt'. It was apparently banned in Australia in its entirety, and it took a copy being smuggled into the country and published to relax censorship laws.
This is a very special book, for challenging societal norms and for being open and honest about women's sexuality. I couldn't put it down and I hope that you all read it if you ever get a chance.
Originally posted 14 February 2010 Page Turners
No comments