The Portable D.H. Lawrence

by Diana Trilling

A compilation of the writings of D.H Lawrence with evaluations from the editor.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literature, Poetry, Short Stories

692 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Diana Trilling, née Diana Rubin, was an American literary critic and author, a member of the circle of writers, thinkers and polemicists of the 1930's, 40's and 50's known as the "New York intellectuals". She was married to foremost US literary and cultural critic Lionel Trilling. They had one child, James.


Trilling was a well-known book reviewer for The Nation magazine. Her works include We Must March My Darlings (1977), an essay collection; Mrs. Harris (1981), a study of and meditation on the trial of Jean Harris; and The Beginning of the Journey (1993), a memoir of her life and marriage to Lionel.

Reviews

[Austin Outhavong · Rating 4 out of 5]

i dont normally encounter authors who write with so much insight into how people really relate to each other.

[Babs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read any D.H Lawrence before, and I was not impressed. I only read the short stories (no chance of my delving into the travel writing and poetry, and the novels were abridged, and I still haven't recovered from the time I accidentally read the abridged Little Women, a version in which Meg doesn't die. I swear.) I found them to be, without exception, occasionally interesting but generally meandering, and wholly lacking in any kind of tension. If D.H. isn't already on the outs, I will formally predict that he will be completely passe and forgotten by the mid 21st century, mentioned about as frequently as John Dos Passos. (If you don't know who that is, my point is made.)

Plus, none of them were even remotely dirty.

[Death Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe this wasn't a good place to start but with other Viking Portables I've had good luck so I bought this for $3 from Pilot Books(RIP). I found the writing sloppy at times and the pacing uneven. I read 2 1/2 short stories and a couple poems. I may pick up a proper novel down the road but if this is how his other books are they too will end up as table levellers.

[Daniel Bruzzone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was edited well to show a cross-section of D.H. Lawrence's writing, which I was totally unfamiliar with when I started. There were sections (the poetry section in particular) that I wish had been much, much longer. I also want to read The Rainbow, and The Fox was fantastic, but I'm not sure if that's because I had recently finished reading Helen Oyeyemi's "Mr. Fox" which clearly riffed off of it. The imagery in many of these stories was fantastic. But, just as there were shining examples of great writing, there were also portions of this book that were quite a slog. Overall, the 5-star parts and the 1-star parts averaged to 3, although I'm not sure any portion in isolation would have been.