This critical study of Lawrence's third novel, partly based on his own circumstances and upbringing, is primarily written for the undergraduate student.
This critical study applies different literary theories to the novel, revealing the plurality of meanings inherent in it, while avoiding the use of technical language that theorists are prone to employ. Its nine chapters clearly indicate the theoretical lenses through which the novel is looked at: Genesis; Genre; the Psychoanalytic Perspective; History, Class and Society; Lawrence and Women; Structure, Theme and Form; Narrative Voice and Focus; Character; and Symbolic Motifs. Seen from these various perspectives, Sons and Lovers reveals a proliferation of meaning that reflects the writer's deep ambivalence and offers the reader a multiplicity of interpretations.
Sons and Lovers, Lawrence’s third novel, encompasses the literary traditions of both the nineteenth and twentieth century. Its concern with social conditions and the class system connects it with the great Victorian novels, but in its profound exploration of the consciousness of its characters it must be viewed as “modern.”
Brian Finney uses a variety of critical techniques to probe the heart of this rich and diverse novel. Marxist, feminist, Freudian, structuralist, symbolist. Each approach throws light on different aspects of the work, and, brought together, they illustrate its brilliance and complexity. For the student unfamiliar with critical theory, Brian Finney’s study clarifies the use of different methods and shows how they can be applied to reveal meaning and significance. It also contains chapters on characterization, theme and the form of the novel. This masterly work offers many interpretations of Sons and Lovers, but, as the author asserts, the novel contains such a “plurality of perspectives” that every informed reader will draw his or her own conclusions when approaching the work from a unique personal perspective.