By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Second Best’, which was first published in 1914, is not among the front rank of D. H. Lawrence’s short stories. Yet its neglect remains puzzling. It is a disturbing and powerful story about growing up and coming to terms with life’s realities, although molophiles (that’s our coinage for fans of moles) may want to look away before reading our summary and analysis of the story. You can read ‘Second Best’ here.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ is a short story by D. H. Lawrence, which was first published in 1926. It’s a story about luck, money, and success, and the dangers of chasing after these and investing too much in them. But how we should analyse and interpret the story remains unclear. In this post we’re going to offer some notes towards an analysis of this classic D. H. Lawrence story. You can read ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ here.
The life of D. H. Lawrence, told through five interesting pieces of biographical trivia
1. He wrote a story about Jesus Christ called ‘The Escaped Cock’. This story, also sometimes published under the title ‘The Man Who Died’, was summarised by Lawrence himself as follows: ‘I wrote a story of the Resurrection, where Jesus gets up and feels very sick about everything, and can’t stand the old crowd any more – so cuts out – and as he heals up, he begins to find what an astonishing place the phenomenal world is, far more marvellous than any salvation or heaven’. In fact, the story ends with a last line that would be made more famous by another writer, Margaret Mitchell: ‘Tomorrow is another day.’