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Product Description
In this notorious late novel, Lawrence's pagan imaginings burgeon. Kate Leslie, an Irish widow touring Mexico, becomes gradually involved with a charismatic leader, and she enters a sexual relationship with his dark henchman. As the two men conspire to revive the old Aztec religion and seize power, Kate is increasingly implicated in their 'blood consciousness', phallic propaganda and right-wing violence. The Plumed Serpent abounds in the 'politically incorrect': Lawrence retains his power to shock. As a publisher once said, 'Anything to do with D. H. L. is rather dangerous.'
Book Description
The Plumed Serpent, one of Lawrence's most vivid novels, is set in Mexico in the 1920s and centres on the religion of the ancient Aztecs. The Cambridge edition establishes for the first time a meticulously edited text based on the manuscript, typescript and proof material, nearly all of which survives.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
D. H. Lawrence once again brings us a beautifully written book, this time set in 1920s Mexico. If you are expecting something that really gets into the Mexican psyche though this will not be a book for you. In a time of political upheaval Kate Leslie is in Mexico and after coming into contact with a couple of Mexicans she slowly changes her perception of the people.
From its opening scenes at a bullfight this book can be a bit gory at times, especially as Kate becomes involved with the new religious cult based on the ancient Aztecs. Underlining this story is a deep sexual tension, making it on a very deep level highly erotic, and in some ways helps to explain the avid buying of vampiric novels (this isn't one).
If you are a Lawrence fan you should have already read this, indeed I first read this years ago, but if you are not and want to try something different and rewarding then read this.
From its opening scenes at a bullfight this book can be a bit gory at times, especially as Kate becomes involved with the new religious cult based on the ancient Aztecs. Underlining this story is a deep sexual tension, making it on a very deep level highly erotic, and in some ways helps to explain the avid buying of vampiric novels (this isn't one).
If you are a Lawrence fan you should have already read this, indeed I first read this years ago, but if you are not and want to try something different and rewarding then read this.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really really wanted to enjoy this book. It is the first D H Lawrence I've read, and knowing of his quality writing and the plot outline and `notorious' nature my expectations were high. And in deed in many respects this is a good book. D H can obviously write some amazingly good descriptive prose and his style has a modern feeling yet classic style - this is most engaging. He introduces rounded and consistent characters and in the case of Kate, the protagonist, and Cipriano the pair work well together.
The story is that Kate, a youthful middle aged widow travelling in Mexico, gets entwined in the revival of the cult of Quetzalcoatl (the plumed serpent). The leader Ramon and his army backer Cipriano are attracted to Kate and vice versa and both perhaps have changing motives throughout the story. Carlota, Ramon's catholic wife, challenges the course of the morality of the cult. There are some revolutionary and political manoeuvrings. The book opens with a detailed bull fight with horses getting gored. Kate is slowly drawn into the cult but more to the native nature of the people; building to the undramatic conclusion, will Kate stay and who with?
So why did I dislike this book? There are so so many reasons I lose count. I'll list a few but ultimately it comes down a poorly realised story.
The Mexicans are too stereo typified as dark natives; this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't laid on so thick. Other issues are that the revolutionary reasons for the cult are completely understated and though there is a scene of an attack and subsequent retribution, it is completely lost in the padding of the rest of the story.
Kate is so weak and indecisive - she doesn't really get involved appearing more as a passive observer into the cult; she had no passion and her limp-wristed ending sums up the whole story. She could have been so involved, playing Ramon and Cipriano against each other, perhaps seriously getting off with one of them; or being `the plumed serpent' herself (as in the original Eve) or something. I loathed the way the established church seemed to just cave in - churches are not so easily taken over. There seemed no real reason why local people should so readily convert - the cult didn't seem to offer them anything (the regular `hymns' and cult texts occurring in the story just came across as window dressing). The cult wasn't sinister or challenging. Though the opening bull-fight sequence is somewhat gory, I didn't believe it - two horses being gored is not so real, they normally wear protection, it's the bulls who are expendable not the horses. The final straw, on the last page, was the following quote "For she heard the hot, phallic passion in Cipriano's voice", besides it being out of context, it's too lame.
I imagine this is as a literary Mills & Boon with not wanting to upset the target readership too much.
The story is that Kate, a youthful middle aged widow travelling in Mexico, gets entwined in the revival of the cult of Quetzalcoatl (the plumed serpent). The leader Ramon and his army backer Cipriano are attracted to Kate and vice versa and both perhaps have changing motives throughout the story. Carlota, Ramon's catholic wife, challenges the course of the morality of the cult. There are some revolutionary and political manoeuvrings. The book opens with a detailed bull fight with horses getting gored. Kate is slowly drawn into the cult but more to the native nature of the people; building to the undramatic conclusion, will Kate stay and who with?
So why did I dislike this book? There are so so many reasons I lose count. I'll list a few but ultimately it comes down a poorly realised story.
The Mexicans are too stereo typified as dark natives; this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't laid on so thick. Other issues are that the revolutionary reasons for the cult are completely understated and though there is a scene of an attack and subsequent retribution, it is completely lost in the padding of the rest of the story.
Kate is so weak and indecisive - she doesn't really get involved appearing more as a passive observer into the cult; she had no passion and her limp-wristed ending sums up the whole story. She could have been so involved, playing Ramon and Cipriano against each other, perhaps seriously getting off with one of them; or being `the plumed serpent' herself (as in the original Eve) or something. I loathed the way the established church seemed to just cave in - churches are not so easily taken over. There seemed no real reason why local people should so readily convert - the cult didn't seem to offer them anything (the regular `hymns' and cult texts occurring in the story just came across as window dressing). The cult wasn't sinister or challenging. Though the opening bull-fight sequence is somewhat gory, I didn't believe it - two horses being gored is not so real, they normally wear protection, it's the bulls who are expendable not the horses. The final straw, on the last page, was the following quote "For she heard the hot, phallic passion in Cipriano's voice", besides it being out of context, it's too lame.
I imagine this is as a literary Mills & Boon with not wanting to upset the target readership too much.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Better than critics give credit for
19 July 2004
Format:Paperback
The critics focus on Lawrence's lifelong sexual themes and his colonial-era views on race, but the best part of this book, and the reason it's still important, is that it contains Lawrence's prescription for modern metaphysical ills -- a return to religion, not Christianity but a sort of new paganism which draws at its core on ideas from gnosticism and eastern mysticism. Lawrence thinks that Quetzalcoatl would embody this new paganism in Mexico, but he has Ramon suggest to Kate that, if she returns to Ireland, she should encourage the Irish to similarly reinvent the Celtic gods on the gnostic model. Ramon thinks every culture should revert to its old gods -- which he thinks are all expressions of the same, universal God -- because different "races," or to use more modern, politically correct terminology, different cultures understand the idea of "god" through their own unique experience, history and ways of thinking. Regardless of any other shortcomings, this is a fascinating, thoughtful approach, artfully presented.
I liked Lawrence's Quetzalcoatl hymns quite a bit, and thought they added immensely to the above-identified theme. They reminded me a great deal of some the Nag Hammadi manuscripts -- gnostic Christian teachings discovered in Egypt in the 1940s, and famously described by Elaine Pagels in The Gnostic Gospels. What's most amazing is the depth and scope of Lawrence's gnostic philosophy without having had access to those ancient Egyptian texts, which were not discovered until after the writer's death.
Those viewing this book through a purely feminist lens will dislike it; those who espouse identity politics will find themselves conflicted. But for anyone interested in a great writer's "practical" solution to the great spiritual dilemmas of the modern era, or who simply enjoys reading 400 pages of top-shelf prose, "The Plumed Serpent" is worth the time investment.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Lawrence's Spiritual Journey
21 Dec 1999
Format:Paperback
One gets the impression that D.H. Lawrence's visit to Mexico in the 1920's was quite difficult; Mexico was rocked by political and social violence and even extremes of climate. Yet somehow, Lawrence has successfully managed to transform his experiences into a novel alive and vital. His characters are early 20th century spiritual seekers in a country that still has not been completely deadened by what Lawrence sees as the century's materialistic malaise. His spiritual ideas are much more profound than what can be found in most modern New Age manuals, and imbedded as they are in a realistic fiction, much more entertaining.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Worth Some Patience
26 Oct 2001
Format:Paperback
This is one of those books that once you take the time to get familiar with, it will pull you along at a slow and sometimes painful pace. The honest and direct sensuality of the people, Kate's confusion between the love of life and the distaste for the common man, the marraige of religions, and the stuggle to become true men and women do offer the reader a wonderfly detailed story. I recommend this to anyone who feels they need a mental vacation for the social triviality of the modern day world. It is a book to help regain perspective.
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