Fanny and Annie

by D.H. Lawrence

An interesting short story, which perhaps could have been made into a short novel. A woman of 30, Fanny, has lived away from her first love for 12 years. In the meantime, she has learned manners, better speech, and become a little spohisticated. He, Harry, has stayed working in a furnace. She has decided to come back to marry him, after a few affairs that came to nothing, and although she initially reels from his lack of any initiative, and his basic ways, she decided to stay with him when tested, following an outburst in church of a local gossipy woman. Nicely written, and an easy read.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction

First published April 23, 1921

About the author

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct.

Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage." At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence's fiction within the canonical "great tradition" of the English novel. He is now generally valued as a visionary thinker and a significant representative of modernism in English literature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.H._Law...

Reviews

[María · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read it for college. English is not my first language and I literally could not understand this short story and it frustrated me. I read it like eight times. I particularly don’t like the plot a lot or the ending, but the characters are ok and I really like the way the narrator...well, narrates. The focalization is in our dear protagonist Fanny and it made it very interesting.

[Mighty Aphrodite · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Fanny era una domestica, trentenne, tornata per sposare il suo primo amore, un operaio di fonderia: lo aveva tenuto in sospeso per una dozzina d’anni. Perchè era tornata? Ne era innamorata? No. Non fingeva di esserlo.”

Uno sfolgorante, anche se fin troppo breve, racconto di D.H. Lawrence apre questo nuovo anno: “Fanny e Annie”.

Fanny ritorna al paese in cui è nata e cresciuta dopo dodici lunghi anni di assenza per sposare il suo primo fidanzato. Quando le appare per la prima volta dopo molto tempo – mentre la sta aspettando sulla banchina – ammantato dal fuoco della fabbrica, che trasfigura ogni cosa, anche il volto dell’uomo, la giovane donna vede nel suo viso “qualcosa che la perseguitava, che la astraeva dalla realtà”.

Fanny sente spalancarsi davanti a lei una voragine cupa e senza fine, sa perfettamente di non amarlo, ma, al contempo, qualcosa la spinge verso di lui, qualcosa che va al di là della ragione umana, qualcosa che nasce dalle viscere, dal sangue.

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[Hiraa Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect portrayal of women back in early 20th century when women had to settle for less due to the pressure of society. Lawrence has beautifully captured the inner conflict and complexities that one has to face while taking a decision that makes sense mentally but not emotionally!

[Sanjay Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another story about a woman coming back to her first love, still thinking he is lower than her in sophistication; another girl claiming to bearing his child; the first woman still opting for him