The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories (3) (English Edition)

D.H.LawrenceAug 2024

Rating 3.9

Word count: 24K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

This collection brings together another selection of classic short fiction by D. H. Lawrence, author of Lady Chatterley's Lover. This is the English-language edition, suited to readers of English.

It gathers more than a dozen of Lawrence's short stories and novellas, spanning every period of his career and tracing his development from early realism through late modernism and stylistic experimentation.

In choosing the stories, the editor gives first attention to the works recognized as classics while also taking account of their representativeness of schools and currents and their aesthetic value.

The British critic F. R. Leavis remarked that Lawrence is among the greatest novelists, and that in the works of the major novelists from Jane Austen to Lawrence — I am thinking of Hawthorne, Dickens, George Eliot, Henry James, Melville, Mark Twain, and Conrad — we find creative achievement unsurpassed, which no famous passage in literary history can surpass.

Editor's review

This book is an English-language selection of Lawrence's short fiction and novellas, containing more than ten works that span his early to late career, allowing readers to trace his movement from realism toward modernism and stylistic experiment. The selection balances acknowledged classics with works representative of schools and currents, offering a fairly complete thread for readers who want to understand the full range of Lawrence's fiction. The English original preserves Lawrence's distinctive rhythm and feel for language, well suited to appreciating his shifts of narrative perspective and use of symbolism in the act of reading. Leavis's assessment can serve as a reference for understanding Lawrence's place in literary history, though it need not be taken as final. Readers might group the stories by period, starting with the more strongly plotted pieces before moving into the experimental texts, and use notes to trace how theme and form echo each other. For English learners, it is also a literary language resource of real depth.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who want a systematic overview of Lawrence's short fiction
English learners with some foundation who want to read fiction in the original
Readers interested in modernist stylistic experimentation in fiction
Undergraduates or self-learners who need supplementary reading in English and American literature

Not a good fit for

Beginners whose English reading is not yet fluent and who need annotations or a translation
Readers who want only a single famous story and are not interested in a selection
Readers sensitive to depictions of gender and psychology in Lawrence's work

Reading tips

Begin by reading in groups according to the periods marked in the table of contents, observing changes in Lawrence's narrative style.
After each piece, note in two or three sentences the narrative perspective and central images, to allow comparison across stories.
For more experimental pieces, read through once before returning to key passages; there is no need to check every word.

版权信息
THE LAST LAUGH
IN LOVE
A pause.
THE MAN WHO LOVED ISLANDS
First Island
Second Island

FAQ

Is this book the English original or does it have Chinese facing text?

According to the available information, this is the English-language edition, containing more than ten of Lawrence's short stories and novellas; no Chinese facing text or annotations are mentioned. Readers with a good foundation in English can read it directly, while beginners may keep a dictionary at hand or consult a related translation for support.

I haven't read any of Lawrence's novels. Can I start with this book?

Yes. This is a selection of short fiction and novellas, and the pieces stand relatively independently, without relying on the plot of a novel. It is advisable to begin with the more strongly plotted stories to build a feel for the language, then move on to the experimental texts of the middle and late periods, which makes the changes in his writing clearer.

In what order are the pieces arranged?

The information states that the selection spans every period of Lawrence's career and balances acknowledged classics with works representative of schools and currents, but it does not specify the exact arrangement. Readers can group the stories themselves according to the period clues in the table of contents.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

D.H.Lawrence Author

D. H. Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, and essayist, and one of the most controversial and influential writers of twentieth-century English literature. The collection here holds eleven of his works, mostly short-story volumes, including multiple parts of The Prussian Officer and Other Stories and The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories, commonly classified under foreign literature. Public information is limited, so his birth and death dates, education, and specific life experiences are not covered in this entry. Judging from the works available, he excelled at portraying inner desire, repression, and conflict in a compressed, sensuous prose, often touching on class, gender, and bodily experience; his narration is direct and his psychological portraiture detailed. His short stories are tightly structured with vivid imagery and a language both lyrical and austere, and he has had a lasting influence on later English fiction in its treatment of psychological depth and sexual themes.