NAME OF THE BOOK - Odour Of Chrysanthemums.
NAME OF THE AUTHOR - David Herbert Lawrence (D H Lawrence).
SOURCE - eBook.
No. of Pages - 11.
PUBLISHERS DETAILS - Published in "The English Review" Magazine, in June 1911 by editor "Ford Madox Hueffer". He was also an author of various books written under the name of "Ford Madox Ford".
ABOUT THE AUTHOR - David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. He was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter. His notable works include Novels (Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love, Lady Chatterley's Lover), Short Stories (Odour of Chrysanthemums, Daughters of the Vicar, The Man who loved Islands), Play (The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd), etc. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health & vitality, spontaneity, and instinct. In his later years he continued to write despite his failing health. In his last months he wrote numerous poems, reviews and essays. He died at the Villa Robermond in Venice, France, in March 1930, from complications of tuberculosis, after being discharged from a TB sanatorium.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STORY - "Odour of Chrysanthemums" focuses on a dramatic moment in the life of Mrs. Elizabeth Bates and the accidental death of her husband, Walter Bates. The story goes on telling about a Nottinghamshire coal miner's wife, a young mother, waiting for her abusive husband Walter Bates to come home. She blames his drinking for his absence. It turns out he has been killed in a pit accident. Laying out his corpse, after it is brought home from the mine, makes her realize they never really knew each other. Upon the discovery that her husband has died, the protagonist, Elizabeth Bates, is able to remain astonishingly calm and collected, especially in front of her children. In contrast, Walter's mother, the old woman, who lives near the young couple and their children, becomes hysterical, highlighting her overbearing and somewhat irritating nature.
BOTTOMLINE - "Odour of Chrysanthemums" is a story about Elizabeth Bates and the recognition she gains, upon her husband's death, concerning the gap between them. The style of writing of "Odour of Chrysanthemums" is highly poetic and is characterized by a profusion of descriptive adjectives and adverbs. The story's first paragraph juxtaposes the hard, inhuman machine-world of the mine and the beautiful, vulnerable, natural world. This description introduces the gap between people and nature which will widen at the end of the story to reveal an absolute division between men and women, and life and death.
RATING - *** (GOOD).