David Herbert Richards Lawrence (1885-1930) was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters.
His first published collection, these twelve stories were written between 1907 and 1914, during a crucial period of development for Lawrence from which he emerged a leading figure of the modernist movement. Reaching new levels of feeling and experience, these stories range from the tale of a Prussian officer who drives his orderly towards a bloody reckoning, to the strangely exotic elements of "A Fragment of Stained Glass", and the divisions within society and conflicts of the heart that form the central themes of "Daughters of a Vicar". Interweaving individual lives, their happiness, failures, and defeats, with the profound forces of nature, Lawrence has created stories of remarkable power and sensitivity. This Penguin edition reproduces the newly established Cambridge text, which is based on Lawrence's manuscripts, typescripts, and corrected proofs.
The twelve stories printed in this collection were written between 1907 and 1914. They constitute Lawrence’s first published collection of short stories and were chosen by him from a much larger number. During these seven years Lawrence made astonishing advances in his handling of narrative fiction. It is impossible to see the full extent of these advances from the stories printed in this book, because Lawrence repeatedly revised and rewrote the stories as his ideas about the nature of fiction rapidly evolved. Within this span of time he transformed himself from an imitative late Victorian writer to a leading member of the emergent modernist movement.