Product Description

With an introduction and notes by Lionel Kelly, University of ReadingIn 1915, Lawrence's frank representation of sexuality in "The Rainbow" caused a furore and the novel was seized by the police and banned almost as soon as it was published. Today it is recognised as one of the classic English novels of the twentieth century. "The Rainbow" is about three generations of the Brangwen family of Nottinghamshire from the 1840s to the early years of the twentieth century. Within this framework Lawrence's essential concern is with the passional lives of his characters as he explores the pressures that determine their lives, using a religious symbolism in which the 'rainbow' of the title is his unifying motif. His primary focus is on the individual's struggle to growth and fulfilment within marriage and changing social circumstances, a process shown to grow more difficult through the generations. Young Ursula Brangwen, whose story is continued in Women in Love, is finally the central figure in Lawrence's anatomy of the confining structures of English social life and the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation on the human psyche.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18187 in Books
• Published on: 1995-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Kate Flint is University Lecturer in Victorian and Modern English Literature at the University of Oxford. She is the author of The Woman Reader, 1837-1914 (OUP, 1993), and has edited World's Classics editions of Dickens, Trollope, and Woolf.

Customer Reviews

My favorite D.H. Lawrence
Lawrence's fame (or notoriety) rests on his sexual frankness, but what a lot of readers overlook is how well he wrote about parent-child relationships and family dynamics. The beginning of this novel is absolutely brilliant: Tom Brangwen and the Polish widow marry in haste, then find that they still haven't worked out their relationship. Her young daughter is an uneasy third party, and the child's sensitivity to the unease in their household is beautifully described, as well as her stepfather's gentle efforts to befriend her. As Lawrence continues the family history, his usual obsessions surface. But in general, it's a good story: sex is an organic part of his characters' lives rather than the mainspring of the whole plot (as in some of his other novels). And the characters come across as multi-dimensional human beings rather than talking heads (or other organs) for Lawrence's comments on life. A good novel for people who "don't like D.H. Lawrence."

No complaints about storyline - but book is full of typos!
This classic DH Lawrence story is full of his usual passion and beautiful descriptive passages about the surroundings and the characters, however this particular version - although admittedly cheap - is chock full of typo's. The letter "U" seems to be universally replaced with "n", and there are some amusing spellings which do alter the context at times such as "buffer" instead of "butter"! But on the whole it doesn't spoil the storyline - except for making me chuckle during a scene of anguish! I'm not sure what Lawrence would have thought about this version!

Most successful Lawrence
More passionate that Women in Love, much deeper than Lady Chatterley, I think this is Lawrence's most successful novel. While ostensibly chronicling the moves from an agricultural to industrialised society, he plumbs the emotional depths of his characters. Frequently viewed as old-fashioned, Lawrence captures all the quivering, trembling, tentative life inside his characters and somehow paints it on the page. I first read this when I was seventeen just before going to university to read English and it left me blown away. I've since avaoided re-reading in case I'm disappointed, but have finally succumbed - and no, I'm not! Not a tube read as you need to concentrate and allow yourself to be sucked into its emotional depths but it's well worth it.

ps. What a very odd cover Penguin have chosen for the re-release?