Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel by D. H. Lawrence, first published privately in 1928 in Italy, and in 1929 in France and Australia (Geoffrey Robertson, 2010). The book is notorious for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a working class man and an upper class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex, and its use of then-unprintable words. An edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover was published in Britain in 1932 by Martin Secker; reviewing it in The Observer, Gerald Gould noted that "passages are necessarily omitted to which the author undoubtedly attached supreme psychological importance – importance so great, that he was willing to face obloquy and misunderstanding and censorship because of them (The Observer 1932)".
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However, the novel is also a part of that civilization, which creates an ambivalence in the textual revolt. To do this, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) will be used as a theoretical framework for the analysis. It should be noted that this does not mean that Freud’s text should be seen as a key to the novel; it will merely be used as a tool to understand a dimension of it. The parallels between Civilization and Its Discontents and Lady Chatterley’s Lover are remarkable, almost as if one was based upon the other. Surprisingly few critics observe this, and one of the first to have done so, Naomi Mitchison in 1930, curiously enough finds the two works “incompatible”, although they focus on the same issues (963). Tristram, on the other hand, speculates that Civilization and Its Discontents might have made Lawrence realize he had more in common with Freud than he thought, had he had time to read it before he died (139). Before moving on to the analysis, it is necessary to define some Freudian terms that will be used in the essay. Freud’s theories can seem strange, even bizarre, so it is best to keep in mind that most of the concepts he uses should be seen as theoretical constructions or metaphors for how the human psyche works, rather than as ideas about actual phenomena. The theme Civilization and Its Discontents suggests, Freud there investigates how civilization affects the individual negatively. Freud’s definition of “civilization”, which will be used in this essay, is “the sum total of those achievements and institutions that distinguish our life from that of our animal ancestors and serve the dual purpose of protecting human beings against nature and regulating their mutual relations” (27). The foundation of this civilization is the love drive, Eros, which seeks to join individuals together in larger units such as families and nations (55). In
However, the novel is also a part of that civilization, which creates an ambivalence in the textual revolt. To do this, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) will be used as a theoretical framework for the analysis. It should be noted that this does not mean that Freud’s text should be seen as a key to the novel; it will merely be used as a tool to understand a dimension of it. The parallels between Civilization and Its Discontents and Lady Chatterley’s Lover are remarkable, almost as if one was based upon the other. Surprisingly few critics observe this, and one of the first to have done so, Naomi Mitchison in 1930, curiously enough finds the two works “incompatible”, although they focus on the same issues (963). Tristram, on the other hand, speculates that Civilization and Its Discontents might have made Lawrence realize he had more in common with Freud than he thought, had he had time to read it before he died (139). Before moving on to the analysis, it is necessary to define some Freudian terms that will be used in the essay. Freud’s theories can seem strange, even bizarre, so it is best to keep in mind that most of the concepts he uses should be seen as theoretical constructions or metaphors for how the human psyche works, rather than as ideas about actual phenomena. The theme Civilization and Its Discontents suggests, Freud there investigates how civilization affects the individual negatively. Freud’s definition of “civilization”, which will be used in this essay, is “the sum total of those achievements and institutions that distinguish our life from that of our animal ancestors and serve the dual purpose of protecting human beings against nature and regulating their mutual relations” (27). The foundation of this civilization is the love drive, Eros, which seeks to join individuals together in larger units such as families and nations (55). In