| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Book Description
Browse and search another edition of this book.
There was a large, brilliant evening star in the early twilight, and underfoot the earth was half frozen. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
On his travels Aaron meets a variety of people who provide him with insights into what is possible in society. Though these meetings and friendships Aaron undertakes a period of introspection which leads him to believe that the society he has left behind is destined to be further undermined by its degenerative nature. Finally, in Italy, Aaron is brought face to face with the truth about post war Europe. The Fascists and Socialists are at odds with one another. The Fascists rise to power has angered the Socialists and there are a number of incidents which are brought to life by Lawrence's own experiences and his sense of place. Lawrence uses one of these incidents for the climax of the novel. Aaron is our drinking with his new friends when a bomb explodes in the cafe. This bomb breaks Aaron's flute and he feels as if there is nothing left for him as his flute is his life. The final chapter is a mind blowing foray into the psychology and philosophy of the time. Lawrence inter-twines a fantastic array of psychologicl analysis and fiction to leave us questioning our own lives and the way we lead them. As anyone who reads this book will understand it is not that the ending of an object is the ending of life but the opportunity to begin anew, as Aaron himself finds out in the opening pages of the book.
Lawrence's works are of outstanding quality throughout. This book has been criticised by many for having a disjointed narrative and a broken story line. It is precisely these charcteristics that make this novel a joy to read. The way in which Lawrence manipulates his characters and situations is magnificent and his ability to close a story is without question one of the best of British writers in the early twentieth century. It is without doubt that Lawrence is a complex writer and this shows throught his work, but the latter novels, with the exception of Lady Chatterley's Lover, are without question the finest he wrote. If you read any Lawrence book in the near future read this one; it has been a truely under-rated work of art.
I was hoping this would be more of an "artist's novel" containing interesting descriptions of Aaron's life in Florence with his bohemian friends, and to a certain extent it is, but Lawrence seemed more interested in symbolism than in telling a good story. Though scattered as a story, the concepts of individuality and society are clearly portrayed throughout "Aaron's Rod", and towards the end, when the anarchist's bomb goes off, we sense a "breaking" (the blue ball/ornament at the beginning, and the flute/rod at the end) of an outdated mode of thinking (i.e. patriarchy, male dominance, etc.) in favor not necessarily of feminity, but an integration of the two. This particular Penguin edition has an excellent introduction and helpful end-notes by Steven Vine which help explain Lawrence and his symbolism to those unfamiliar with his works. I might re-read this novel once I've read more of Lawrence, and come back to it one day from a different viewpoint, but for now, I'd have to say that unless you're a real Lawrence afficionado, I'd hold off on this one until you figure out whether or not you like Lawrence enough to proceed to something as scattered, cold, and dry as this novel comes across.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
