Introduction

Lawrence wrote Sons and Lovers in four drafts over a period of two years. When he began it he was an elementary school teacher in London, contemplating his mother’s approaching death. When he finished it he was living in Italy with Frieda Weekley. This book focuses on the centrality of writing in Lawrence’s life during that period, and the ways in which Sons and Lovers was influenced by his life experiences while writing it, especially the responses of Jessie Chambers and Frieda to various drafts, as well as by his past.