Lady Chatterly's Lover

Lady Chatterly's Lover (1928) is the controversial final novel of D.H. Lawrence that, both on and off the page, challenged the rigid norms governing class, love, and sexuality that dominated early-19th century society.

The novel explores in shocking detail the life and desires of the titular Lady Chatterly. After her handsome and able-bodied husband sustains an injury during The Great War that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down, Lady Chatterly begins an affair with their gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, in an attempt to find the passionate satisfaction that her husband is now unable and unwilling to offer. Through this affair, Lawrence explores the gulf between the social classes of the time and the idea that love requires stimulation of both the mind and body, a particularly controversial notion for 1929, especially with respect to women. The novel was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial, ultimately won by the publisher (who, it should be noted, sold exponentially more copies of the book than it would have without the publicity driven by the scandal), that still serves as the benchmark for freedom of expression in literature. Despite its initial publication after the trial in 1932, the “complete and unexpurgated” edition was not released in the US and UK until 1960.

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