Sons and Lovers (Barnes & Noble Classics - D. H. Lawrence [230]
6 (p. 249) Renan “Vie de Jésus” stage: The French scholar Ernest Renan (1823-1892) was studying for the priesthood when he lost his faith due to the influence of German philosophy and biblical scholarship. He later became a relativist. His book The Life of Jesus (1863), the first volume of The History of the Origins of Christianity, explored the origins of Christianity from the standpoints of history, biography, and psychology.
“It requires a lot of pain and courage to come to discover one’s own creed...,” D. H. Lawrence wrote in a letter to Ada Lawrence Clark in April 1911. “It is a fine thing to establish one’s own religion in one’s heart, not to be dependant on tradition and second hand ideals.”
7 (p. 251) St. john ... the verse: The reference is to one of the four gospels in the Bible. The verse Paul cites is John 16:21, in which Jesus tells his disciples that their grief upon his death will turn to joy upon his resurrection. The King James Version of the Bible translates the verse, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
8 (p. 253) Margaret Bonford’s meeting: This is a fictionalized name, based on Margaret Bondfield (1873-1953), a trade-union leader and the first female member of the House of Commons and Britain’s first female cabinet minister. Bondfield advocated women’s suffrage and a number of other feminist causes and also promoted the rights of shop workers.
9 (p. 254) ‘Nevermore’: This is a reference to “The Raven” (1845), a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
10 (p. 256) Deirdre or Iseult: Both are heroines in Irish legends and appear as well in similar medieval tales from throughout the British Isles and other parts of northern Europe. Deirdre is the ill-fated heroine of “The Sons of Usnach,” which is considered the greatest of early Irish love legends. Iseult appears in “Sir Tristrem,” in which the knight Tristrem falls in love with her.
11 (p. 276) Omar Khayyám: This Persian poet (circa 1123) became well known in England through Edward FitzGerald’s translation of his Rubáiyát, a collection of four-line poems. Of Khayyám, FitzGerald wrote, “[He] ... pretend[ed] sensual pleasure as the serious purpose of life.”
12 (p. 277) Miriam: In a letter dated early 1911 to Jessie Chambers, the woman upon whom Miriam is based, D. H. Lawrence writes, “... the best man in me belongs to you. One me is yours, a fine strong me.... I have great faith still that things will come right in the end.”
Chapter 10: Clara
1 (p. 280) “a bit of a paintin’ as be knocked off in an hour or two!”: Though D. H. Lawrence was not successful with painting, as Paul is, he showed his father his first novel, The White Peacock, when it was printed in the winter of 1910.
“‘And what dun they gi’e thee for that, lad?’
‘Fifty pounds, father.’
‘Fifty pounds!’ He was dumbfounded, and looked at me with shrewd eyes, as if I were a swindler. ‘Fifty pounds! An’ tha’s niver done a day’s hard work in thy life.’”
2 (p. 287) sweated: The term refers to hard work. At the turn of the century, lace weaving, hosiery, and other British cottage industries notoriously underpaid workers, who were mostly women and children.
3 (p. 288) Juno: The queen of the Roman gods (known as Hera in Greek mythology) was the protector of women.
4 (p. 291) Lettres de mon Moulin: The popular collection of short stories by the Frenchman Alphonse Daudet was published in 1872. See also note 3 in chapter 9.
5 (p. 292) Penelope: In Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope is beset by suitors when her husband, Odysseus, fails to return home after the Trojan War. Ever faithful to her absent husband, Penelope promises she will choose a new mate by the time she finishes her weaving but unravels her work every evening so it is never completed.
6 (p. 296) Queen of Sheba: In the Bible, 1 Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba travels to Jerusalem and presents great