Sons and Lovers
1913
Published in 1913, 'Sons and Lovers' is a novel by D. H. Lawrence that explores the complex dynamics of family relationships within a working-class mining community in Nottinghamshire, England. The story follows Paul Morel, whose troubled bond with his mother, Gertrude, and his romantic entanglements shape his emotional development. Initially met with mixed reviews and accusations of obscenity, the novel is now considered a significant work in autobiographical fiction, reflecting Lawrence's own life experiences and the struggles of class and familial love.
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“Recklessness is almost a man's revenge on his woman. He feels he is not valued so he will risk destroying himself to deprive her altogether.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“Sleep is still most perfect, in spite of hygienists, when it is shared with a beloved. The warmth, the security and peace of soul, the utter comfort from the touch of the other, knits the sleep, so that it takes the body and soul completely in its healing.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“She had borne so long this cruelty of belonging to him and not being claimed by him.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“And in this passion for understanding her soul lay close to his; she had him all to herself. But he must be made abstract first.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“They wanted genuine intimacy, but they could not get even normally near to anyone, because they scorned to take the first steps, they scorned the triviality which forms common human intercourse.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“Night, in which everything was lost, went reaching out, beyond stars and sun. Stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spiraling round for terror, and holding each other in embrace, there in a darkness that outpassed them all, and left them tiny and daunted. So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core of nothingness, and yet not nothing.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“You're always begging things to love you," he said, "as if you were a beggar for love. Even the flowers, you have to fawn on them--””
— D. H. Lawrence
“He always ran away from the battle with himself. Even in his own heart's privacy, he excused himself, saying, "If she hadn't said so-and-so, it would never have happened.””
— D. H. Lawrence
“...you love me so much, you want to put me in your pocket. And there I will die smothered.””
— D. H. Lawrence
