D. H. Lawrence and LJ Match

[jain]

I'm reading Women in Love and hatehatehating it. It's the first novel of Lawrence's that I've ever read (though I did read "A Poem of Friendship," which I loved), so I don't know if it's typical of his work...but it's so awful and boring. The interactions between the men and women are pointlessly and unbelievably violent. Characters keep taking indefensible positions in absurd arguments that go on for pages. He's reused the words "mock," "jeer," "strident," and "sing-song"--among others--to the point that I want to stab my eyes out every time they reappear. At least the relationships between Gudrun and Ursula, and between Birkin and Gerald, are very interesting, so I keep reading, but there's getting to be less of that and more of the male/female interactions as the book progresses. Also, I really don't find botany sexy, no matter how large and erect the stamens of the flower are.

	

	

	

		
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How compatible with me are YOU?

Comments

[batshua]

Please don't stab your eyes out. They're so expressive. Besides, if you poke them out, you'll go blind.

[jain]

Besides, if you poke them out, you'll go blind.

That was actually the appeal, and if you ever have the misfortune to read the book I'm sure you'll see why. In the meantime, however, a bunch of books I'd ordered through an inter-library loan came in, so I've temporarily given up on Lawrence and am much more happily reading about ritualized bisexuality in pre-modern Japan.

[batshua]

Ah, well, having interesting books to read is much better than going blind. Besides, not everything is available in Braille.

[jain]

Well, if you ever get a chance to read "A Poem of Friendship," the Lawrence short story I mentioned, you might try that. It's truly beautiful, especially the language, and is pretty much everything I'd hoped Women in Love would be.