St Mawr and Other Stories consists of the long novella St Mawr, two short stories 'The Overtone' and 'The Princess', and two unfinished stories 'The Wilful Woman' and 'The Flying Fish', all written during D. H. Lawrence's stay on the American continent between 1922 and 1925.
The texts are newly edited from Lawrence's original manuscripts and typescripts, eliminating mistranscriptions and unauthorised alterations made by publishers and printers for reasons of housestyling, fear of prosecution or moral censoriousness. In some cases whole lines of text, which have been omitted in the first and subsequent editions, have been restored. The textual apparatus records all variants. The introduction uses unpublished material to trace the genesis and reception of each work. The notes give the translation of foreign words, the explanation of classical, biblical, literary and historical references and the reasoning behind some of the more involved textual cruces.
The short fiction collected in this volume was written between 1922 and 1925 while Lawrence lived in New Mexico and Mexico. Apart from “The Overtone” these stories make use of American settings and reflect the impact that the new landscape and its peoples had on Lawrence’s outlook and writing during this period. Modern men and women are brought into stark contrast to the impersonal, ageless landscape of the American continent and the animistic culture of American Indians that Lawrence felt drawn to.