Guy Cuthbertson's 'Lady C' Examines the Enduring Cultural Legacy of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'
In his book 'Lady C: The Long, Sensational Life of Lady Chatterley's Lover' (Yale), Guy Cuthbertson explores the cultural significance of D.H. Lawrence's novel, starting from its private release in Florence in 1928 to the obscenity trials it faced in New York and London in 1960. Written in just six weeks while Lawrence battled tuberculosis, the novel faced a ban in the UK and US for thirty-two years due to its explicit content. In 1959, Grove Press released an unedited version, which was confiscated but later found not obscene by federal judge Frederick van Pelt Bryan. The trial at the Old Bailey in 1960 resulted in an acquittal, leading Penguin to sell two million copies. Cuthbertson highlights the novel's impact on adaptations and its contribution to the liberalization of sexual literature.
Key facts
- D.H. Lawrence wrote 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in six weeks while living in Italy with tuberculosis; he died in 1930 at age 44.
- The novel was banned for 32 years in the UK and US due to obscenity laws.
- Grove Press published the first unexpurgated US edition in 1959; federal judge Frederick van Pelt Bryan overturned the post office's obscenity ruling.
- Penguin Books' 1960 trial at the Old Bailey, Regina v. Penguin Books, resulted in acquittal after three hours of jury deliberation.
- Thirty-five witnesses testified for Penguin, including E.M. Forster, Rebecca West, and the Bishop of Woolwich.
- The novel uses 'fuck' 30 times, 'cunt' 14 times, and contains 13 sex scenes.
- Lawrence originally planned to title the novel 'Tenderness.'
- Cuthbertson's book 'Lady C' documents over two dozen sequels and spinoffs published in the 21st century alone.
Entities
Artists
- D.H. Lawrence
- Guy Cuthbertson
- E.M. Forster
- Rebecca West
- Helen Gardner
- Cecil Day-Lewis
- Richard Hoggart
- John Robinson
- Barney Rosset
- Frederick van Pelt Bryan
- Mollie Panter-Downes
- Sybille Bedford
- A.S. Byatt
- Philip Larkin
- Iris Murdoch
- James Joyce
- Radclyffe Hall
- Norah C. James
- Otis Redding
- Maarten Devoldere
- Sylvia Beach
- Edward Titus
- Martin Secker
- Alfred Knopf
- Archibald MacLeish
- Mark Schorer
- John Mervyn Guthrie Griffith-Jones
- Robert Christenberry
- John Rankin
Institutions
- Yale University Press
- Grove Press
- Penguin Books
- Liverpool Hope University
- The New Yorker
- Esquire
- Harvard University
- Library of Congress
- University of California, Berkeley
- St. Columb's Cathedral
- Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall
- George Hotel
- Die Schock-Kings
- Warhaus
Locations
- Italy
- England
- United States
- Florence
- Paris
- France
- New York
- London
- Old Bailey
- Derry
- Northern Ireland
- Shetland Islands
- Eastwood
- Nottinghamshire
- Rye
- Sussex
- Liverpool
- Kent
- Berkeley
- California