I've finally started reading D.H. Lawrence's The Rainbow. He is one of the authors I plan on reading for the Outmoded Authors challenge (the others are yet to be decided but I have a few in mind). I am completely new to Lawrence and his work. I've heard various things about him--good, bad and otherwise, but I'd like to have a completely open mind as I go into this novel. I haven't decided whether it would be better to read the introduction to the book now or wait until after I've finished, but so far I've just dived into the novel.
I suspect lots of you already are familiar with Lawrence, so bear with me as I go over the basics--more for myself than anything else. He was born in 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. He was educated at Nottingham University College, where he received a teacher training certificate in 1908. You can check out the university's Lawrence site here. The Encyclopedia Britannica's article on Lawrence is here, which I have only skimmed as they discuss plots (and you know how I hate spoilers). A few interesting facts I didn't know--he died at the very young age of 44 in 1930--that seems amazingly young to me (now that I am not 20 anymore--40 doesn't seem so old after all), particularly considering his literary output. He died in France, but his ashes were later interred in Taos, New Mexico. I knew he had traveled there, but I had no idea he was buried there.
As for The Rainbow, The Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say:
"During World War I Lawrence and his wife were trapped in England and living in poverty. At this time he was engaged in two related projects. The first was a vein of philosophical writing that he had initiated in the “Foreword” to Sons and Lovers and continued in “Study of Thomas Hardy” (1914) and later works.The other, more important project was an ambitious novel of provincial life that Lawrence rewrote and revised until it split into two major novels: The Rainbow, which was immediately suppressed in Britain as obscene; and Women in Love, which was not published until 1920."
I am not very far into the novel yet. I know it is about several generations of the Brangwens. At the moment it is centering on Tom Brangwen. I like how Lawrence focuses on the characters. I am getting a good sense of what he is like. He was not a good student. Although he is a younger son he ends up with the family home and farm. As his siblings leave and are married he is alone on the farm, and he is quite taken with a woman he meets--as yet unnamed. She is a widow with a daughter. Initially Lawrence spent a lot of time describing everything. For at least 20 pages there was nothing but passages about the land and the people, no dialogue. It took some getting used to, but I think I will like this style. The writing does seem very poetic to me.
Here is what I have in store for me (also from Britannica):
"The search for a fulfilling sexual love and for a form of marriage that will satisfy a modern consciousness is the goal of Lawrence's early novels and yet becomes increasingly problematic. None of his novels ends happily: at best, they conclude with an open question."
I have also read that Lawrence based his novels on his life experience. I am looking forward to really getting into this novel. So far my first impression is a good one, but I know there have also been many criticisms of his work as well. I will most likely now just read and worry about those criticisms later! I think I'd like to form my own opinion at least up front. I suppose it is better to come to a work without a lot of baggage so to speak. This is always a question I wonder about--and wonder what other's opinions are as well--how important is it to know a lot about an author? And does that shade your opinion of a work? Is it fair to judge a work by an author's life? Of course I am just as curious about knowing about an author as anyone when I have read something really good. But how important is it to know?