The Prussian Officer

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 433K words
Chapters: 44

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Prussian Officer by D. H. LawrenceAuthor: Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 31, 2007

Editor's review

The Prussian Officer is one of D. H. Lawrence's representative short stories. The title story is set in an army barracks and revolves around the tense, oppressive relationship between an officer and his orderly, rendering the confrontation of power, the body, and emotion with striking sharpness. Lawrence's narrative does not rely on plot twists; its strength lies in the steadily tightening psychological tension and the meticulous depiction of the characters' bodily sensations, through which the reader feels the hostility in the air and the weight of silence. The work is well suited to understanding how Lawrence transforms class and military structures into conflict between individuals, and equally suited to close reading as an English short story. The public-domain electronic edition is light and easily accessible, useful for literature-course discussion or independent close reading, though it requires patience with the slowly accumulating atmosphere of repression.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature readers interested in D. H. Lawrence's work
Students learning modernist short-story technique
Readers who enjoy psychological tension and the depiction of character relationships
Teachers and learners who need a public-domain text for classroom discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer light, brisk stories
Those uncomfortable with military power relations and an oppressive atmosphere
Beginners who need detailed historical annotations to read

Reading tips

Read the title story first, attending to the tone and bodily details of every interaction between the officer and his orderly.
After finishing, revisit the key scenes and mark passages where the power relationship subtly shifts.
Read alongside other Lawrence short stories to observe his consistent approach to characters' psychology.
For course use, group discussion is recommended on how narrative point of view shapes the reader's judgment of the characters.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does this book contain only one short story?

The Prussian Officer usually refers to the short story that gives its title to the volume; the specific contents depend on the edition chosen. The Project Gutenberg public-domain text centers on the title story, so check the table of contents before reading to confirm the scope of what is included.

What language level is it suitable for?

It is a strongly literary English text with some difficulty in syntax and vocabulary, suitable for intermediate to advanced English readers. Beginners may read it alongside a Chinese translation or an annotated edition, first grasping the plot and character relationships.

Why does the story feel so oppressive?

The work deliberately creates the power oppression and emotional tension of barracks life; the narrative does not rush to release the conflict but lets hostility accumulate. This sense of oppression is Lawrence's technique for portraying characters' psychology and structural problems, not sluggish plotting.

Comments

Find this book

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

Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930 Author

D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Lawrence, 1885–1930) was an English novelist, poet and essayist. The library holds 25 of his works, including the novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and The Lost Girl, the short-story collections The Prussian Officer and England, My England, and the travel book Twilight in Italy. His writing often draws on mining and rural life and focuses on relations between men and women, class, and the pressure modern civilization places on individual vitality, with a candid style that is sensuous and psychologically searching, at once poetic and forceful. Because his work boldly touched on desire and social taboo, he was controversial in his lifetime and is now regarded as a major voice in twentieth-century English literature. Detailed information beyond his works is limited, so this note relies on the available works and established common knowledge.