David Herbert Lawrence 11 September β 2 March was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity , social alienation and industrialization , while championing sexuality, vitality and instinct. Four of his most famous novels β Sons and Lovers , The Rainbow , Women in Love , and Lady Chatterley's Lover β were the subject of censorship trials for their radical portrayals of romance, sexuality and use of explicit language.
Lawrence's opinions and artistic preferences earned him a controversial reputation; he endured contemporary persecution and public misrepresentation of his creative work throughout his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile that he described as a "savage enough pilgrimage". Forster , in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation".
Leavis also championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness. The house in which he was born, 8a Victoria Street, is now the D. Lawrence Birthplace Museum. His working-class background and the tensions between his parents provided the raw material for some of his early works. Lawrence roamed out from an early age in the patches of open, hilly country and remaining fragments of Sherwood Forest in Felley woods to the north of Eastwood , beginning a lifelong appreciation of the natural world, and he often wrote about "the country of my heart" [ 6 ] as a setting for much of his fiction.
Lawrence Primary School in his honour from until , becoming the first local pupil to win a county council scholarship to Nottingham High School in nearby Nottingham. He left in , [ 8 ] working for three months as a junior clerk at Haywood's surgical appliances factory, but a severe bout of pneumonia ended this career. During his convalescence he often visited Hagg's Farm, the home of the Chambers family, and began a friendship with one of the daughters, Jessie Chambers, who would inspire characters he created in his writing.
An important aspect of his relationship with Chambers and other adolescent acquaintances was a shared love of books, [ 9 ] an interest that lasted throughout Lawrence's life.
