David Herbert Lawrence (1885–1930) expected The Rainbow to cause a stir. In a characteristically open exploration of sensual and explicit themes, the novel traces more than sixty years of pre-war life and three generations of the Brangwen family. Employing language infused with the rich imagery and repetition of biblical texts to treat all subjects - from the green fields and empty skies of the Brangwen farm through to Ursula's encounter with a female schoolteacher - Lawrence took an assuredly striking approach. However, he was unprepared for the vitriolic attacks of his reviewers. The novel was branded 'utter filth' and 'a mass of obscenity'; it was banned only a month after its publication in 1915, unsold copies being confiscated and destroyed. A second, abridged edition would not appear for another eleven years. Now a landmark in the early modernist canon, the original and unabridged text of 1915 is reissued here.
| ISBN: | 9781108060462 |
| Publication date: | 9th May 2013 |
| Author: | David Herbert Lawrence |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 478 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Library Collection - Fiction and Poetry |
| Genres: |
Classic fiction: general and literary |