The Complete Stories of D H Lawrence Volume 3

 The Complete Stories of D H Lawrence Volume 3

By D H Lawrence

I read these stories aloud to my friend.
One thing that struck me that stood out for me was the courage apparent in this work. The willingness or the entitlement to be able to tell the truth, or a truth, about delicate things in human connection. This is a matter of being able to look at personal relationships and the ambiguities within them directly and report back in a way that even the spouse would see and feel the parallels. Lawrence is a masterful writer who looks deeply into the human conditions of relationship and life and death, to fearlessly express the darkness within as well as the bright joyous parts, the rest of us are left to sheepishly write reviews of the works of the bold, the fearless.

So the reaction of a volume like this, late in the career and short life the a great prolific writer is a call to action and in that a call to life; the expression of what is within more fully and not hold oneself back in reserve and, literally out of the fullness of life for the sake of a notion of keeping the peace, of not upsetting others. This courage to say, “Yes, I think about things in this way and that. I am a confused human sorting things out, but I am still here and with you, until I am not, can no longer be. Let’s go in deeply together.”

For instance, I read Glad Ghosts last. At 40 pages is it the longest story in the book. It took me two hours to read aloud.
It concerned people who have stiffened in relationships, been fearful and undesiring of one another and who ultimately find redemption from and with the spirit of the dead who remain living within them long after the people are gone. It is a remarkable story.
Lawerence in a few of these stories gets into a groove of flord text about the human heart and connection to the elements that was a delight for me to read, perform, to a loved one. The reader is carried along effortlessly on wave upon wave of ideas and emotions in the text. It felt good to speak it and for both of us to hear it.

The Man Who Loved Island, is a strange meditation on wanting isolation, away from and not bothered by others. It felt a kinship to Melvile’s remarkable Bartleby The Scrivener. An isolation flirting with self destruction.

The Blue Moccasins, is a misbegotten May - December marriage in which the younger is the man and trouble comes when he late blooms out in the world.

The Rocking-Horse Winner, has supernatural elements that could make for a Twilight Zone episode.

In Love, has a young couple, friends since childhood coming together as a married couple. But he thinks he has to now play a certain kind of role that alienates and appalls her.  

Things, has a couple of Americans who have found a life living in Europe for a time but then are encumbered by the furnishings that they must forever maintain in storage.

Mother and Daughter, are coupled themselves and cohabitate until a surprising stranger appears to change it all. 

The Overtone, This is one of the best stories in the collection. It involves a couple who through misunderstanding years ago early on cannot connect physically or spiritually.    

But on a certain night in a garden in conversation with a third, a young woman, begin to understand who and what they are and how they can live again. The language in this one is particularly beautiful and poetic.