Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
42 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingIf you have read DH Lawrence's The Rainbow, you'd certainly want to read the sequel, Women in Love. Published in 1920, the two books were originally meant to be a single work, spanning several generations of the Brangwen family, especially the women. However, a complicated publishing history, delays and editorial revisions, followed by the hostile reception and controversies that faced The Rainbow led to a gap of five years between the two books.
Yet, by 21st century standards, Women in Love seems almost tame, and modern-day readers may well be bewildered by the amount of criticism it generated among the custodians of morals in an earlier age. The moral backlash prevented many readers from appreciating the true nature and depth of this insightful novel.
The plot deals with the continuing saga of the Brangwen sisters, Ursula and Gudrun. Gudrun falls in love with a wealthy industrial tycoon, Gerald Crich while Ursula's heart is captured by a school inspector, Rupert Birkin. However, Birkin is also a passionate and intellectual man, whose unconventional ideas attract Ursula. Spanning the time before and during World War I, Lawrence drew many of the characters from real life. Ursula was based on his own wife, Frieda, while Birkin is a close self-portrait of himself. His friend Katharine Mansfield comes alive as Gudrun and Gerald Crich, her husband John Middleton Murry. Hence, the book is also an invaluable biography of contemporary writers and their lives.
Though the book examines physical and emotional love in a frank and fearless way, Lawrence's critics suggested that it was also told from a male chauvinistic point of view. Lawrence was deeply influenced by Freudian psycho-analysis and also by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Victorian ideas of a woman's role, her rights and her expectations were undergoing a sea-change at this time. Her desire to work at a job outside the home, earn an independent living and the blurring of social boundaries are other themes that Lawrence felt deeply about and depicts in this book. The conflict between society's conventions and individual desires is another theme that runs through Women in Love. The dawn of the Industrial Revolution was about to change the structure of society forever and we find Lawrence's characters, grappling with changing ideas and vanishing traditions.
Women in Love also contains many of the characters who appear in The Rainbow, like Tom, Anna and Billy Brangwen. Tom Brangwen's struggle with the ideas and ways of his unconventional daughters also forms part of the story.
An interesting and absorbing read!
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Episodes
01 – Chapter 1 – Sisters
January 02, 2024 00:00 - 50 minutes - 22.9 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
02 – Chapter 2 – Shortlands
January 01, 2024 00:00 - 32 minutes - 14.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
03 – Chapter 3 – Classroom
December 31, 2023 00:00 - 32 minutes - 14.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
04 – Chapter 4 – Diver
December 30, 2023 00:00 - 19 minutes - 8.58 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
05 – Chapter 5 – In the Train
December 29, 2023 00:00 - 26 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
06 – Chapter 6 – Creme de Menthe
December 28, 2023 00:00 - 43 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
07 – Chapter 7 – Fetish
December 27, 2023 00:00 - 14 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
08 – Chapter 8 – Breadalby, Part 1
December 26, 2023 00:00 - 45 minutes - 20 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
09 – Chapter 8 – Breadalby, Part 2
December 25, 2023 00:00 - 43 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
10 – Chapter 9 – Coal-dust
December 24, 2023 00:00 - 28 minutes - 12.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
11 – Chapter 10 – Sketch-book
December 23, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
12 – Chapter 11 – An Island
December 22, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
13 – Chapter 12 – Carpeting
December 21, 2023 00:00 - 30 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
14 – Chapter 13 – Mino
December 20, 2023 00:00 - 34 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
15 – Chapter 14 – Water-party Part 1
December 19, 2023 00:00 - 55 minutes - 24.8 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
16 – Chapter 14 – Water-party Part 2
December 18, 2023 00:00 - 53 minutes - 23.8 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
17 – Chapter 15 – Sunday Evening
December 17, 2023 00:00 - 26 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
18 – Chapter 16 – Man to Man
December 16, 2023 00:00 - 37 minutes - 16.2 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
19 – Chapter 17 – The Industrial Magnate Part 1
December 15, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 14.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
20 – Chapter 17 – The Industrial Magnate Part 2
December 14, 2023 00:00 - 43 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
21 – Chapter 18 – Rabbit
December 13, 2023 00:00 - 30 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
22 – Chapter 19 – Moony Part 1
December 12, 2023 00:00 - 30 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
23 – Chapter 19 – Moony Part 2
December 11, 2023 00:00 - 41 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
24 – Chapter 20 – Gladiatorial
December 10, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
25 – Chapter 21 – Threshold
December 09, 2023 00:00 - 43 minutes - 20 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
26 – Chapter 22 – Woman to Woman
December 08, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
27 – Chapter 23 – Excurse
December 07, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 30.5 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
28 – Chapter 24 – Death and Love
December 06, 2023 00:00 - 50 minutes - 22.9 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
29 – Chapter 24 – Death and Love Part 2
December 05, 2023 00:00 - 49 minutes - 21.9 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
30 – Chapter 25 – Marriage or Not
December 04, 2023 00:00 - 10 minutes - 4.77 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
31 – Chapter 26 – A Chair
December 03, 2023 00:00 - 28 minutes - 12.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
32 – Chapter 27 – Flitting
December 02, 2023 00:00 - 47 minutes - 21 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
33 – Chapter 28 – Gudrun in the Pompadour
December 01, 2023 00:00 - 17 minutes - 7.63 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
34 – Chapter 29 – Continental Part 1
November 30, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 14.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
35 – Chapter 29 – Continental Part 2
November 29, 2023 00:00 - 34 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
36 – Chapter 29 – Continental Part 3
November 28, 2023 00:00 - 52 minutes - 23.8 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
37 – Chapter 29 – Continental Part 4
November 27, 2023 00:00 - 40 minutes - 18.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
38 – Chapter 29 – Continental Part 5
November 26, 2023 00:00 - 22 minutes - 10.5 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
39 – Chapter 30 – Snowed Up Part 1
November 25, 2023 00:00 - 29 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
40 – Chapter 30 – Snowed Up Part 2
November 24, 2023 00:00 - 40 minutes - 18.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
41 – Chapter 30 – Snowed Up Part 3
November 23, 2023 00:00 - 54 minutes - 24.8 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
42 – Chapter 31 – Exeunt
November 22, 2023 00:00 - 26 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com