Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classic (1990), 624 pages
Description
Published in one volume, together with The Ladybird in 1923, these three short novels reveal Lawrence exploring the new form, developing its potential and using it, above all, to advance his ideas on leadership and male supremacy. The four novellas that followed, including The Virgin and The Gypsy and The Princess, achieve a far greater beauty and vitality, and in St Mawr, set in New Mexico, and The Escaped Cock an extraordinary reworking of the story of Christ's resurrection, Lawrence brings to the short novel the richness and resonance of myth.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Luli81
The Captain's Doll:
My first short tale by Lawrence, and admitting that I'm not much into collections of short stories, I quite liked this one.
Lawrence manages to transmit the same essence, the same almost philosophical thoughts regarding love and human relationships in barely a hundred pages as he
The story of a doomed love affair between a Scottish soldier, who is happily married to an older woman, and a Dutch Countess refugee during WWI, who knits dolls for a living.
The lives of these two characters get different paths as the years pass by, but a doll taking after the Captain created for the Countess while she was in despair after the Captain's rejection to leave his wife, brings them again together for better or for worse.
Touché, Mr. Lawrence, as usual.
The Fox:
My second short tale by this genius of a man, of whom I'd have fallen head over heals for, if only I had been his contemporary...
In this story we meet two independent women, who run a farm business on their own, and who live a quiet and undisturbed life. The future that awaits them seems certain and unadventurous and their biggest problems are such as getting rid of a fox who steals some of their hens.
But one day, a young cunning soldier appears at their door, disrupting their peace and provoking strange feelings to one of the girls, who tries to fight with all her might against this new attraction, without success, and eventually, this new found passion leads to disaster.
In barely a hundred pages, Lawrence does it again. The way to describe feminine and masculine roles, the fight for independence and the need to be loved and protected, the fruitless struggle of rationality against raw feelings which come from the pit of your stomach, the disappointment of getting what you most crave for...
The selfish human nature and the saying "all is fair in love and war" we all want to believe are left exposed as mere excuses we all accept so we don't have to think who we really are. We are either hens or foxes.
I'll only say Wow.
My first short tale by Lawrence, and admitting that I'm not much into collections of short stories, I quite liked this one.
Lawrence manages to transmit the same essence, the same almost philosophical thoughts regarding love and human relationships in barely a hundred pages as he
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did in his best selling novels such as "Women in love" or in "Lady Chatterley's lover".The story of a doomed love affair between a Scottish soldier, who is happily married to an older woman, and a Dutch Countess refugee during WWI, who knits dolls for a living.
The lives of these two characters get different paths as the years pass by, but a doll taking after the Captain created for the Countess while she was in despair after the Captain's rejection to leave his wife, brings them again together for better or for worse.
Touché, Mr. Lawrence, as usual.
The Fox:
My second short tale by this genius of a man, of whom I'd have fallen head over heals for, if only I had been his contemporary...
In this story we meet two independent women, who run a farm business on their own, and who live a quiet and undisturbed life. The future that awaits them seems certain and unadventurous and their biggest problems are such as getting rid of a fox who steals some of their hens.
But one day, a young cunning soldier appears at their door, disrupting their peace and provoking strange feelings to one of the girls, who tries to fight with all her might against this new attraction, without success, and eventually, this new found passion leads to disaster.
In barely a hundred pages, Lawrence does it again. The way to describe feminine and masculine roles, the fight for independence and the need to be loved and protected, the fruitless struggle of rationality against raw feelings which come from the pit of your stomach, the disappointment of getting what you most crave for...
The selfish human nature and the saying "all is fair in love and war" we all want to believe are left exposed as mere excuses we all accept so we don't have to think who we really are. We are either hens or foxes.
I'll only say Wow.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1982
Physical description
624 p.; 5.04 inches
ISBN
0140182160 / 9780140182163
Local notes
The Captain’s Doll. The Fox. The Ladybird. St. Mawr. The Princess. The Virgin and the Gipsy. The Escaped Cock