The White Peacock - Softcover

Lawrence, D.H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192836390 ISBN 13: 9780192836397

Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1999

Synopsis

`Like a tree that is falling, going soft and pale and rotten, clammy with small fungi, he stood leaning against the gate, while the dim afternoon drifted with a flow of thick sweet sunshine past him, not touching him.'

Lawrence's first novel is a compelling exploration of the estrangements of modern life. Focusing on three relationships - one destructively stillborn, one disastrously unfulfilling and one passionately unspoken - Lawrence exploits the language and conventions of the rural tradition to foreground
man's alienation from the natural world. His evocation of the vanishing countryside of the English midlands, as soon through the eyes of the effete Cyril Beardsall, is both vivid and arresting, and as the novel draws towards its tragic conclusion Lawrence handles his themes with an increasingly
visionary power. The White Peacock is both a fascinating precursor of the more famous novels to come and a moving and challenging book in its own right.

In his introduction to this edition David Bradshaw reassesses this often underrated novel, and shows how Lawrence was already breaking the mould of English fiction.

About this title

Book Description

The Cambridge edition of Lawrence's first novel The White Peacock uses the final manuscript to faithfully recover Lawrence's words and punctuation from the layers of publishers' house-styling and their errors. Andrew Robertson's introduction sets out the history of Lawrence's writing and revision, and the novel's generally favourable reception.

About the Author

David Bradshaw is Fellow and Tutor in English at Worcester College, Oxford, and a University Lecturer in English.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0192836390
• ISBN 13: 9780192836397
• Binding: Paperback
• Editor: Bradshaw David