Summary of Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Constance (Connie) Chatterley is a young, intelligent, and socially progressive woman, married to Sir Clifford Chatterley, an aristocratic but emotionally detached man. After being injured in the First World War, Sir Clifford is left paralysed and impotent. The couple live at Wragby Hall, his family’s country estate, in Nottinghamshire, in the 1920s. Feeling trapped in a passionless and sexless marriage, Connie begins an affair with Oliver Mellors, the gamekeeper on the estate.
Reasons to read Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Since its first publication, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” has been one of the most controversial novels of the twentieth century. Its candid treatment of sex and its portrayal of an adulterous relationship between an upper-class woman and a working-class man, shocked contemporary audiences. Originally published in Italy in 1928, the novel was not available in its unexpurgated form in the United Kingdom until 1960, when Penguin Books faced – and won – a landmark obscenity trial. The verdict not only made the book a bestseller but also marked a turning point for freedom of expression and the sexual revolution in Britain. While remembered mainly for its erotic passages and its challenges to class division, the novel has more to offer. It explores the connection between body and mind in relationships, as well as the contrast between nature and industrial society. Nearly a century on, readers still debate whether its value lies in its scandal, its social critique, or its deeper reflections on human intimacy. Other works by English writer D. H. Lawrence include “Sons and Lovers”, “The Rainbow”, and “Women in Love”.
Setting: Nottinghamshire (England, UK)
“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” is set at Wragby Hall and the nearby village of Tevershall, both fictional locations in Nottinghamshire, in the East Midlands of England. They are thought to have been inspired by Lawrence’s birthplace of Eastwood and its surrounding coal-mining landscape.
Original title: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Year of publication: 1928
Nr of pages: 384
