The rainbow (novel)

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DH Lawrence in 1915

The rainbow (Original title: The Rainbow ) is a 1915 novel by the British writer DH Lawrence . Lawrence tells the story of three generations of the Brangwen family who run a farm in the English Midlands .

Due to its linguistically discreet but explicit representation of human eroticism, the novel fell victim to British censorship shortly after its publication . Today it is counted among Lawrence's major works - alongside Sons and Lovers (1913), Loving Women (1920) and Lady Chatterley (1928). Robert McCrum, who compiled a list of the 100 best English-language novels for the Guardian , even prefers this novel to all of the author's other works.

In Loving Women , Lawrence continued the storyline of the novel.

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The plot is set at Marsh Farm, a farm in Nottinghamshire , the plot period extends from 1840 to 1905.

The novel begins with the marriage of the young Tom Brangwen to Lydia Lensky, a Polish widow. Tom loves Lydia dearly, but she is also a stranger to him; the power of his sexual desires and the fear that Lydia might leave him terrify him deeply. Lydia, who has not only lost her first husband but also two children, for her part vacillates between the desire for closeness and the fear of losing again. Marriage turns out to be extremely difficult.

The second third of the novel tells the story of Anna Lensky, Lydia's daughter from her first marriage. Anna marries Tom's nephew, Will Brangwen. This marriage is difficult too. Anna is spoiled and immature, wants to be the center of Will's life, but can't stand it when he gets too close to her. The fact that Anna constantly eludes him drives Will, who is actually passive and respectful, to fits of anger and cruelty.

Anna and Will have nine children. The last third of the novel tells the story of Ursula Brangwen, the oldest child. Ursula shares the longing for a self-determined life with her grandmother and mother, but times have changed: Ursula finds relatively great freedom. She tries a relationship with her teacher Winifred Inger, a feminist. She tries another one with the young officer Anton Skrebensky. She feels drawn to Anton; but because it stands in the way of her aspirations for education and economic independence, she shrinks from being bound.

All three women - Lydia, Anna and Ursula - seek close closeness and solidarity with their partners, but only find them in sexual encounters and even there only fleetingly; in all other areas the strangeness seems insurmountable.

Origin and reception

The Rainbow was Lawrence's fourth novel. He had actually planned the book as a potboiler and began work in Italy in mid-March 1913 under the title The Sisters ("The Sisters"); the project gave him problems and required repeated revisions. At the beginning of February 1914 he discarded everything that he had put on paper up to then and began a completely new version, which he completed on May 16, 1914 under the title The Wedding Ring . Lawrence then returned to London, where he signed a contract with Methuen Publishing on June 29 for publication.

At the suggestion of his wife Frieda , he had meanwhile chosen the title The Rainbow for the work . Late in November 1914, Lawrence began revising the book again, dividing the material into two separate novels in January 1915 - The Rainbow and a sequel he was later to publish under the title Loving Women - and completed work on the rainbow on November 2 March 1915. The final editing followed from March to August 1915.

The central theme of The Rainbow was the erotically receptive human body, not subject to the rule of consciousness. Such literature was incompatible with the moral code of the Victorian era . The Methuen publisher published the novel on September 30, 1915 and was appointed to the magistrate on November 13 for violating the Obscene Publication Act (1857). This prohibited publication of the book; several hundred copies that the police had previously confiscated were burned.

In New York on November 30, 1915, BW Huebsch published a version that had been cleared of objectionable parts.

In Great Britain the book was not reprinted until 1926, now by Martin Secker, in the version by BW Huebsch; the British authorities were silent. The University Press Cambridge University Press who is trying since 1979 to provide a scientific edition of the complete works of Lawrence, which is a maximum of justice to the intentions of the author has, in 1989 the Rainbow re-released in reconstructed version.

In Germany , the novel was first published in 1922 by Leipziger Insel-Verlag . Franz Franzius had done the translation. Among the readers was Rainer Maria Rilke , who received the book "with astonishment, [...] often with the most uncanny shock" . In German-speaking countries, however, Der Regenbogen is one of the author's lesser-known and less frequently read works.

Expenses (selection)

Original English editions

German

  • The rainbow . Insel, Leipzig 1922.
  • The rainbow . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1964 (paperback edition).
  • The rainbow . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1988, ISBN 978-3-499-15304-4 (paperback edition).

Film adaptations

  • The Rainbow , three-part television series, Great Britain 1988, directed by Stuart Burge
  • The Rainbow , UK 1989, directed by Ken Russell
  • Women in Love , two-part TV series, Great Britain 2011, director: Miranda Bowen (adaptation of both novels: The Rainbow and Loving Women )

literature

  • Mark Kinkead-Weekes: Introduction . In: Mark Kinkead-Weekes (Ed.): DH Lawrence: The Rainbow - Part 1 . Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-00944-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Doo-Sun Ryu: DH Lawrences The Rainbow and Women in Love: A Critical Study . Peter Lang, New York a. a. 2005, ISBN 0-8204-6104-0 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The 100 best novels: No 43 - The Rainbow by DH Lawrence (1915). Retrieved November 16, 2015 .
  2. ^ Mark Kinkead-Weekes: Introduction . In: Mark Kinkead-Weekes (Ed.): DH Lawrence: The Rainbow - Part 1 . Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-00944-8 , pp. Xf ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ↑ Keith Sagar: DH Lawrence: A Calendar of His Works . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1979, ISBN 0-7190-0722-4 , pp. 47 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ Andrew Harrison: DH Lawrence and Italian Futurism: A Study of Influence . Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York 2003, ISBN 90-420-1195-5 , pp. 108 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ A b Warren Roberts, Paul Poplawski: A Bibliography of DH Lawrence . 3. Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001, ISBN 0-521-39182-2 , pp. 31 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ Rachel Potter: Obscene Modernism: Literary Censorship & Experiment 1900-1940 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-968098-6 , pp. 111 ( limited preview in Google Book search). ; Jeffrey Meyers: DH Lawrence: A Biography . Cooper Square Press, New York 2002, ISBN 0-8154-1230-4 , pp. 193 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ^ Warren Roberts, Paul Poplawski: A Bibliography of DH Lawrence . 3. Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001, ISBN 0-521-39182-2 , pp. 530 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ^ Letter to Katharina Kippenberg, January 10, 1923.