Book Review — D. H. Lawrence: The Dover Reader

D. H. Lawrence: The Dover Reader is an anthology of the writing of D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence was a writer of non-fiction, novels, short stories, and poetry. He also painted, translated, and was a literary critic. His writing shook post-Victorian England. He saw modernizing and industrial growth as dehumanizing and concentrated more on the human element.  His most famous work Lady Chatterley’s Lover was heavily censored when it was published in 1928. When it was released in 1946, uncensored, Penguin Books in Britain was brought up on obscenity charges. The charges were dismissed and today the book would not even have made a ripple in the moral fabric.

This Dover edition includes Sons and Lovers as its anchor which is a solid work and one that does not first come to mind when thinking of Lawrence. It is followed up with several excellent short stories. These seem complete in their format and do not leave the reader wanting closure or looking for the complete story. The poetry section is well done. Lawrence keeps with the more classical format. The poem “Snake” is a remarkable human experience with nature and regret when societal norms have the poet act outside of his personal feelings. The collection closes with writings on psychoanalysis. Not being a student of psychology, I found this section a bit beyond my interests, but it does show the well-roundedness of Lawrence’s work and education. In the modern world of specialization, Lawrence comes through as a man who explored and took in everything.

This anthology presents a broad look at Lawrence’s work. In the ebook edition, the index allows the reader to jump to different sections, chapters, and individual poems. Although free editions of these books exist, they are machine transferred and full of inaccuracies and odd characters. The Dover edition presents a properly formatted ebook that is error free and allows for the full feature functioning in your e-reader or reading application. Another outstanding anthology, and  recommended for those needing an introduction of Lawrence or wanting to expand beyond a single novel.